Iveco spots 'green shoots'
Truck manufacturer Iveco has detected a leveling off in the decline in registrations of multi-axle vehicles related to the construction industry.
While the sales of 8×4 rigids were down by 61% at the end of 2009, in the first three moths of this year the drop had reduced a much-improved 23%.
While not wanting to read too much into short term figures, Iveco's director of brand and communications, Nigel Emms was pleased this figure retrench further to just a 1% drop in March, compared to the same month last year. "From March onwards, things are picking up at last," he said.
Three axle rigids had done even better with positive figures in March - 6×2s were up 21% and 6×4s were up 11%.
Having surveyed RHA members in the construction sector, Iveco found 18% expect to purchase vehicle in the next 12-18 months and 25% see an improvement in housebuilding and commercial property.
Road maintenance is seen as an obvious growth area with 'pothole Britain' needing to be fixed. The two biggest threats to recovery are seen as cutbacks in public expenditure after the election - no party is seen as being able to avoid them - and, without question the number one issue remains the cost of fuel.
Along with other truck manufacturers Iveco has put a lot of effort into improving fuel economy and has increased usable torque of its drivelines and is increasingly fitting automated manual gearboxes as standard. For instance the Trakker 8×4 comes with an 8-litre Curser engine and the Eurotronic 12-speed automated gearbox as standard, although there is no additional charge for a manual transmission.
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