{"id":8927,"date":"2016-05-25T15:31:56","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T15:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=8927"},"modified":"2016-05-25T15:31:56","modified_gmt":"2016-05-25T15:31:56","slug":"uk-cv-production-wobbles-in-april-as-euro-demand-weaknes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/8927","title":{"rendered":"UK CV production wobbles in April as Euro demand weaknes"},"content":{"rendered":"

I commented last month on how a drop in domestic demand for UK-built vans and trucks had caused UK commercial vehicle production to drop 13% in March<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In April it was the turn of our European customers to hesitate. An 11.2% drop in export demand pushed total UK CV production down by 0.9% to 8,548 units, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Weaker European demand was however offset by a 13.6% rise in UK demand, which rose to 4,047 units.<\/p>\n

What this shows, of course, is that one month’s data does not make a trend. Large fleet orders and seasonal factors can easily push CV demand up or down by a few hundred units each month, without signifying any change in overall market conditions.<\/p>\n

However, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive sounded a cautious note when commenting on the outlook for the rest of the year (my bolding):<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough April saw a slight decrease in CV production, the sector continues to perform well with positive year-to-date figures. Following the substantial rise in volumes last year, we can expect production growth to ease slightly over coming months<\/strong>. However, with continued demand for British-built vans and trucks at home and around the world, the sector\u2019s outlook is positive.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

At present, the overall trend remains positive — just. UK CV manufacturing output is up by 0.4% so far in 2016, as changes in home and export demand have largely offset each other:<\/p>\n

\"SMMT

Source: SMMT<\/p><\/div>\n

It’s too early to get a clear idea of the trend for the year at this point, I’d suggest, although the situation certainly seems a little less clear cut than last year, as this graph shows:<\/p>\n

\"SMMT

Source: SMMT<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UK CV manufacturing output hesitated last month as weaker export demand offset stronger home demand. The outlook is starting to look less bullish than 12 months ago.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8929,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[310,1885],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8927"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8927"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8927\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8931,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8927\/revisions\/8931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}