Upbeat mood music in a depressed UK truck market

摘要

Last year's Birmingham CV Show was a useful shop window for the first Euro-4 trucks. But this time around, now that the Euro-3 option has disappeared over the horizon, many operators are ready to move beyond the window-shopping phase, even though there is hardly anything to suggest this in the latest registration figures from The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. Daf Trucks, the top-selling truck-maker in every sector of the UK truck market, has seen its registrations plunge by 30 per cent in the first two months of this year compared with the same period in 2006. Yet there is certainly no sign of panic in Daf's Thame and Eindhoven offices. That is because the whole UK truck market is down by 27 per cent. So it would be wrong to conclude that Daf is losing its Midas touch. Looking on the bright side, as ever, the SMMT points out that in each of the past eight years February has been the lowest point in the registrations calendar.