New figures announced this week show van drivers have been spending their money on more than commercial vehicle insurance over the last month. A report on last month’s sales figures by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders(SMMT) shows that almost 15000 light commercial vehicles were registered in April 2010, a marked increase of 6.7% on the same period in 2009.
The boost in the April figures takes new registrations for 2010 over 70,000, an increase of 11.9% on the same period last year once more indicating the industry is coming out of the downturn.
Commenting on the promising figures, the chief executive of the SMMT Paul Everitt emphasised the importance of the role the new Government should take in giving fleet companies extra encouragement to invest in new vehicles “The priority must be sustaining and strengthening the economic recovery with particular focus on encouraging the availability of more and better priced finance.”
One disappointing aspect of the SMMT figures was the continuing poor performance of truck sales which came in at 2,496 for April, and over 31.000 for the year on year statistics, a decline of over a third. Paul Everitt said “Demand for trucks is still running well below pre-recession levels and continues to reflect weak demand and a lack of business confidence. As our new government establishes itself, the priority must be sustaining and strengthening the economic recovery with particular focus on encouraging the availability of more and better-priced finance”