Renault VI leads 1998 sales surge of commercial vehicles
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• Sales of commercial vehicles are up 12.9% for the first half of 1998, compared with the same period in 1997, according to the SMMT, which gives a figure of 147,116 vehicles. Registrations over 3.5 tonnes were up 25.26%. While all the established makers in this sector showed an increase, Renault VI saw the greatest improvement, increasing its sales by 59.5% (1,099 vehicles) on the same period last year. Strong improvements also came from Seddon Atkinson (43.5%), MAN (39.1%), Foden (36.8%) and ERF (36.6%).
Below 3.5 tonnes, Hyundai, Skoda and Iota all made large gains, while Daihatsu, Mitsubishi and Nissan lost significant market share, In the car-derived van sector, Vauxhall has closed the gap on market leader Ford by 2.1% of market share.
The market for light 4x4s, which a number of manufacturers have been predicting would expand rapidly, is the only one to remain absolutely static. The sector continues to be dominated by Land Rover, with 55.7% of the market, and Toyota with 20.8%, a gain of 3.9%.