One quarter more MPV's

More than 183,000 so-called multi-purpose vehicles or MPV’s, including minibuses, were registered in the Netherlands on 1 January 2001. That is more than 25% up on the beginning of 2000. The total number of cars rose by 3.1% in this period.

The number of estate cars registered last year rose by 20%, the number of all terrain vehicles by a similar proportion. The number of convertibles also rose strongly.

Saloon models (four-door cars), on the other hand were less popular, their number dropped by 3.5%, while the number of two-door models fell by 0.8%.

Cars by type, 1 Jan 2001 compared with 1 Jan 2000

In spite of the fall in the number of two-door and four-door saloon models, these still constitute the majority of cars in the Netherlands. There are over 6.5 million cars in the country, 39% of these are two-door saloons, and 35% four-door saloons. In spite of the strong rise, only one in forty cars are a an MPV or minibus; one in ten are an estate.

Huub Coninx