The UK’s automotive sector is firmly in recovery, according to figures published by The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
New car sales in 2013 reached their highest level in five years.
Statistics just released show that 2.26 million new vehicles were registered, representing an 11% increase on 2012. It’s reported that the 2013 total was boosted by a 24% boom in sales in December, marking the 22nd successive month of increases.
Taxi Market Growth
Reports are also positive for the taxi sales market, with leading taxi manufacturer and supplier, Cab Direct, also reporting a five year high. In fact the taxi specialist is ahead of the industry trend, with sales figures up 14% for the year and 43% in December.
Cab Direct managing director, Paul Nelson, commented: “We’re delighted with our sales growth during 2013.
“The current trend in orders is great news for our company and for our growing workforce.”
In the past two years parent company, Allied Vehicles, has increased staffing levels and created 63 new jobs, now employing an all time high of 438.
Mr Nelson added: “We worked hard during the recession to ensure that our business model was streamlined, flexible and efficient. This allowed us to remain profitable when other manufacturers experienced tough times.”
At the on-set of the recession, in 2008, the automotive sector experienced a dramatic and sustained downturn in sales. The banking crisis and general economic downturn also had a direct impact on the UK’s hard working taxi drivers, whose incomes were seriously affected by reduced consumer expenditure and cut-backs in corporate taxi accounts.
The five years that followed saw a number of leading taxi retailers, most notably the London Taxi Company, enter administration as a result of the depressed market conditions.
Five Year High
Mr. Nelson concludes: “Innovation is at the heart of everything we do. We strive to offer the right range of products at the right price to meet the varying needs of the taxi trade – whether it be wheelchair accessible taxis, full specification hackney cabs or standard saloons and MPVs.
“We’ve introduced several exciting new products to our taxi range. In addition we have special taxi finance agreements with a range of reputable finance companies, which have also proved critical to our success in helping taxi trade customers during these tough economic times.”