Now the market has the first calendar quarter and the first full month Covid-19 pandemic impact out of the way, clues to the outcome for the year start to come into focus.
Immediately obvious is the continued fall in commercial vehicle sales totals, month on month (MoM).
April saw 2,303 sales, down from March’s 2,605 and February’s 2,448, according to Truck Industry Council T-Mark figures.
Observers would have to go back to 2014’s 2,214 to find a lower figure for the month, one beaten in 2015 by 87 units.
The year to date (YTD) figure is not quite so bad, due to the reasonable, if softening, start. At 9,207, it is significantly up from 2014’s 8,758 and a comfortably up on 2015’s 9,005, but below 2016’s 9,297.
With recent comparable…