Van sales 13 percent up on last year

New vans sales are holding up well for the year to date compared with 2012, although there was a slight dip in May

YOU continued to buy vans in large numbers in May, although demand was slightly down compared with May 2012.

Van registrations for the month were behind those of May 2012 by 3.8% at 20,503 units, but strong overall LCV sales continued for the January-May period with 110,136 registrations. That’s a 13% increase on the corresponding period in 2012.

The overall commercial vehicle market remains robust, up 8.3% for the year-to-date, although total CV registrations dipped 4.7% in May to 24,149 units.

But demand for trucks dropped by 9.4% to 3,646 units in May and has decreased by 14.3% during the first five months of 2103.

SMMT commercial vehicle manager Nigel Base told Business Vans: “The overall CV market has performed well so far in 2013, but May saw volumes fall 3.8% as van model cycles combined with Euro 6 uncertainty for trucks.

“For business vans, the picture was positive up to May, so we anticipate this blip to be overcome as the year pans out.”