Will rising European sales rescue UK commercial vehicle manufacturing?

CV output 2008-2014 (April 2014)

Rolling year total CV output from 2008 – 2014 (courtesy of SMMT)

As I’ve documented many times over the last year, UK commercial vehicle manufacturing has experiencing a relentless decline over the last few years, not least because of the closure of the Ford Transit plant at Southampton.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), commercial vehicle manufacturing fell by 27.3% in April, as restructuring changes — code for closures and downsizing — continue to ripple through the comparative figures.

In other words, last year’s changes are making this year’s figures look low.

European hopes?

However, commercial vehicle registrations across Europe have turned a corner this year, and started to rise.

EU-wide registrations of trucks, vans, buses and coaches rose by 5.1% in April and are up by 8.7% so far this year, providing a glimmer of that this rise in demand might help absorb some of the lost capacity and weak orders seen in the UK manufacturing sector.

Mike Hawes, the chief executive of the SMMT, believes there is some hope:

“Production of commercial vehicles continues to suffer the effects of restructuring and, for the truck sector, the impact of last year’s spike in demand around new Euro-6 legislation. However, with some investments yet to be realised and eight consecutive months of growth in the European market, the outlook is more encouraging.”

I hope Mr Hawes’ faith will be realised, but I wouldn’t suggest holding your breath; the numbers are still pretty dire:

CV manufacturing Apr-13 Apr-14 % Change YTD-13 YTD-14 % Change
Total 8,623 6,270 -27.3% 32,477 25,790 -20.6%
Home 3,899 2,895 -25.8% 16,565 12,412 -25.1%
Export 4,724 3,375 -28.6% 15,912 13,378 -15.9%
% export 54.8% 53.8% 49.0% 51.9%

Data courtesy of SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk)

1 thought on “Will rising European sales rescue UK commercial vehicle manufacturing?

  1. Pingback: Commercial vehicle production down 32% in May, but is there light at the end of the tunnel? - Van News: The VanRental.co.uk Blog

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