Vauxhall's Astravan topped the 10,000 sales mark in October, two months earlier than last year.

This is an 18.4% improvement in sales on last year. Sales of 818 in October pushed the year-to-date figure up to 10,189 against 8,603 for the same period last year.

Astravan's success also helped move Vauxhall's January-October total van sales to 22,968, a 9.4% improvement on the same period of 1999.

##Astravan--left## Vans brand manager Chris Kearney said: "Our special edition Sportive Astravan has generated enormous interest, with its star silver finish and alloy wheels, not something you would normally expect to see in a workhorse.

"We built just 750 models, but demand has been so good that we are planning a second wave in the coming months."