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Euro4 distorts registrations
Page 22
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The move to the Euro-4 standard in October is causing ripples in a market still recovering from the effects of earlier legislation.
INSIDERS' PERSPECTIVES
Views from the SMMT
August CV registrations vere good and the year to date figure is stable, says Christopher Macgowan. SMMT chief executive. "Vans did well for the month, but the upcoming change to the Euro-4 emissions standard continues to distort truck registrations."
Robin Dickenson, SMMT manager of CV affairs, adds: "Registrations were a little higher than some expected. There were concerns that registrations would be left until September, prior to the move to Euro-4. There has been some pull-through, but we're still seeing distortion from the introduction of digitachs earlier in the year as people have already done their buying.
"The degree of distortion caused by dig itachs surprised many people. For example, by the end of April Daf had registered more than half the vehicles it was expecting to do in the whole of 2006. That is bound to have an effect overall."
Overall volumes were a little lower compared with August last year, which was 7% up on 2004 and is a high benchmark.
"It's still a fairly good market, although some sectors are looking quieter artics are 21% down," says Dickenson. -flle problem is that the year is so distorted by digital tachos that its going to be very difficult to read. If you look at the rolling year, its down about 2% on the heavy side; our feeling is that we'll end the year roughly where we were last year.
"There's an element of 'wait and see' at the lighter end; the market is undecided. The number of models just being introduced also adds a degree of uncertainty "The lightest vans are down 8% on the rolling year, but these have been on a downward trend for a long time. People are beginning to think that if they have a van, they may as well have a big one.
Looking forward, Dickenson says: "September will be higher than August. But I expect that registrations will be down in October, November and December, and won't return to normal until January 2007."