Ford: van market leader as SME confidence rises
Greater confidence in small business market helps van sale growth
AS confidence grows in the small business sector, so van sales continue to increase.
The SMMT reported vans sales up 21.4% in April to 18,081, and on a rolling year up 25.5% to 243,231 units.
“Demonstrating an ongoing resurgence of confidence in the commercial vehicle market, April recorded the 15th successive monthly rise for new van registrations, up by 21% in the month. Truck figures saw even healthier growth, up steeply by 40%, the seventh successive monthly rise,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “Year to date figures for almost every sector were up significantly on 2010, a trend that is likely to continue throughout the year.”
Sue Robinson, director of the RMI National Franchised Dealers Association added: “The RMI expects truck and van sales growth to continue partly due to the implementation of the Low Emission Zone within the M25 area in January 2012. Commercial vehicle owners are aware of the need to buy more carbon friendly vehicles to avoid the charges.”
Small business confidence, measured by the Federation of Small Businesses in its Small Business Index, showed that confidence rose for the first time to +6.7 in the first quarter of 2011, after falling in each quarter in 2010 – no doubt linked to the fact that the economy has returned to growth. In total 36% of small firms expect overall business performance to improve in the next three months.
Ford led the van makers in the table of best selling vans under 3.5t.
Top 10 selling van makers in April
1 Ford
2 Vauxhall
3 Volkswagen
4 Peugeot
5 Renault
6 Citroen
7 Mercedes
8 Nissan
9 Fiat
10 Mitsubishi
Source: SMMT light commercial registrations under 3.5t
