Commercial vehicle demand up
Commercial vehicle output rose 61.6 per cent in March 2010, when compared to the same month in 2009.
13,046 commercial vehicles were built in March, with 32,428 in total for the first quarter of 2010.
Those figures are 61.6 per cent and 45.4 per cent up on the same periods in 2009.
Over two third of all CVs built in the UK in March went abroad, but home demand for vans built in the UK rocketed by almost 150 per cent.
Commercial vehicles such as the Vauxhall AstraVan, Vauxhall Vivaro and Ford Transit are built in the UK. Land Rover also builds a commercial version of the Discovery.
The news was welcomed by industry body SMMT, whose CEO Paul Everitt, said the figures demonstrated a steady improvement in demand.