Record CV Registrations – But it’s not all good news

The SMMT has announced record commercial vehicle registrations for August. The rolling year total is 377,345, a record level measured against the 363,687 annual total in 2003. However it’s not all good news, August’s 18,199 registrations were down 5.5 per cent compared with the same period in 2003. There was also a small volume drop across most market sectors with this month’s bus and coach registrations down 17 per cent.

The society claims that year to date CV registration figures confirm record business demand for freight transport, in which the heavy van sector is still driving the figures. These figures follow “a big change in van and truck use patterns and the CV fleet over the past four years.”

Christopher Macgowan, SMMT chief executive, said: “August’s figures confirm record breaking demand for new commercial vehicles. August saw a pause in the recent long-running growth trend, but its impact was small.” He added: “We shouldn’t read too much about future trends from August’s results as the registration plate change in September means many operators wait for the new plate and its effect on residual values. This is illustrated by the fact that September CV registrations are now about 2½ times those of August.”

As well as bus registrations decreasing August’s truck registrations were also down 4.3 per cent, with the rolling year figure at 55,768. According to the SMMT annual truck registrations are still holding close to 56,000, though August saw some “very modest slippage.” For trucks over 15t gvw registrations dipped 10.8 per cent and for those up to 15t gvw there was growth of 6.0 per cent.

In summary the SMMT believes that the near term outlook is positive, but it predicts slower growth ahead.