Registrations fall again
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• Commercial vehicle registrations continue to lag behind last year's figures. Figures for March released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders indicate that there were 24,404 CV registrations in March; more than 2% down on the 24,924 in March last year.
Importers' share of the market has fallen slightly in the some period, from 48.1% of the market last March to 46.5% this year.
Sales of large goods vehicles above 3.5 tonnes continue to be among the hardest hit by the fall in sales, down more than 3,000 in the first quarter, from 12,823 to 9,643. In March this year sales were 3,828, compared with 4,913 last year. Leyland Daf is the only manufacturer to approach anything like last year's figures. But even its sales are slightly down, from 2,238 in the first quarter last year to 2,134 in 1997.
Analysts say the depressed sales are likely to continue.