Market ‘steady’

‘Steady’ is how the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT) described the bus and coach registration figures for June 2014. SMMT Chief Executive, Mike Hawes, said, ‘The bus and coach market has reached the halfway point in the year with volumes up 3.4%, following a steady 0.3% growth in June. The purpose built sector recovered from a subdued May with a 19.1% rise, and although the converted bus market fell 16.8% in the month, year-to-date registrations have grown 13.5%. With overall volumes up 11.1% for the last 12 months, the signs remain encouraging for the second half of 2014.’

There were 638 buses and coaches registered in June, a 0.3% increase on the same month in 2013. This led to a rolling year figure of 7,841, up 11.1%. Bus registrations rose 14.6% to 275, with the rolling year total falling 1.3% to 2,651. There were 86 coaches built in the period, a rise of 36.5%, with a rolling year figure of 910, representing a 23.1% increase. Converted bus registrations numbered 277, falling 16.8%, with a rolling year total rising 17.8% to 4,280.

Registrations by marque (with June 2013’s figures in brackets) are: ADL 163 (91), Volvo Bus 46 (67), Wrightbus 37 (31), Scania 33 (35), Optare 22 (31), VDL 3 (11), Van Hool 9 (8), Mercedes-Benz (excluding Setra) 32 (3), Neoplan 6 (4), Setra 1 (0), Irizar 3 (13), other imports 4 (1), King Long 1 (4), MAN (excluding Neoplan) 1 (0) and Iris Bus 0 (4).