VAN sales increased slightly year-on-year last month with sales of vehicles up to 1,800 kgs being 7,007 (March 1996: 6,788) and sales of vans 1801-3,500 kgs reaching 11,758 (11,528).

As a result van sales in the smaller category are up more than 1,000 units in the first quarter of 1997 compared with the same period last year at 20,497 (1996: 19,120); but in the larger sector they remain lower than the same time last year at 30,751 (31,216). In the small van sector Volkswagen, Peugeot and Renault have all seen their sales increase sharply, while in the larger category Mercedes-Benz has seen sales rise by almost a third.