1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
UK CV makers hard at work
Page 20
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• by Colin Barnett The Office for National Statistics is once again broadcasting the rise of UK commercial vehicle production. its latest figures, for June, show an increase of 47.3% on the same month in 2002, while the first half of 2003 is up 1.6% over 2002.
This prompted CM to take a closer look at recent years to see the state of UK CV manufacturing. Everyone 'knows' that the CV manufacturing industry is but a shadow of its former sail', but our research shows that that view is far from the full truth. Over the past eight years, the busiest year was 238,314 in 1996, dropping to 172,440 in 2000. Since ther though, the total has recovered to the point where 200,000 units for 2003 is a reasonable expectation.
Obviously, vans up to 3.5-tonnes GVW account for the largest proportion of output, and there have been some high-profile departures from the UK, most notably the loss of Ford's light van production to Turkey.
Van production is slightly more polarised than it was in 1995; today's principal players are Ford, with Southampton-built Transits, LDV in Birmingham and Vauxhall, with Astravans at Ellesmere Port. The latter also jointly hosts the Luton IBC venture with Renault to build the Vivaro/Trafic family.
While UK van production has stayed reasonably visible, casual observers may guess that the production of heavier trucks
had all but ended, with ERF and Seddon Atkinson being the most recent casualties. But in reality, thanks mainly to Paccar's production of Daf and Foden at Leyland Trucks, UK production in 2002 was still well over half of its 1995 level. One sector, rigids over 7.5 tonnes, has actually shown an increase year on year since 999.
And the British tradition for specialist output continues, led by fire and municipal specialist Dennis Eagle.
Our survey shows that while British truck building is undeniably less heaithy than it once was, rumours of its death have been greatly exaggerated,