March and Q1 2017 vans <3.5T and LCVs to 6T

  • Light commercial vehicle market declines marginally in March, falling -0.9% following record 2016.
  • Demand for pick-ups continues upward trend, rising 23.0% in the month.
  • 97,970 vans registered in Q1 – a slight decline of -0.9% over the same period last year.

VANS demand dips but pick-ups keep rising as the market levels off following a sustained period of strong growth and record demand, according to March figures released by the SMMT.

In March 63,316 light commercial vehicles hit British roads, representing a small dip of -0.9%, and the first decline in March for five years.

Richard Tilden, Head of Commercial Vehicles at Lex Autolease, commented: “A slight slowdown in LCV registrations is no surprise once a combination of lead times and business caution in the second half of 2016 are taken into account.

“However, our expectations are that registrations will pick up as we move further into 2017. Given the wide range of vehicles in the market, plus the increasing suitability of ultra-low emission vans, the key decision for businesses will be to ensure the vans they procure are the right fit for their needs.”

Once again the trend was for pick-ups and heavier vans to show an increase in demand in March, up 23.0% and 3.6% respectively, with Nissan Navara and Mitsubishi L200 making the top ten.

Against this, smaller vans were losing market, with registrations of vehicles weighing less than 2.0 tonnes down by -31.6% and vans between 2.0-2.5 tonnes falling -4.0%.

vans demand dips

Sales of market-dominating Ford CVs – accounting for one-in-three registrations – reflected the overall market, down 0.4% at 20,294, compared with March 2016. Year to date Ford’s CV market share is 32.1%, up from 31.8 per cent for the same period 2016.

Ford medium commercial vehicles, headed by the industry-leading Ford Transit Custom and Ford Transit, were 14,842, and for the year-to-date sales were up from 21,729 to 23,829, up 9.7%. Ford’s light commercial vehicles sales year-to-date also rose from 9,643 to 9,987, a 3.5% increase.

At 10,381, Transit Custom sales exceeded the combined total for the Volkswagen Transporter (4,345) at No2 and Transit (4,011) at No3 ahead of Mercedes Sprinter.

Ford leads the commercial vehicle retail and net fleet sales, with both increasing year-to-date, retail sales rose 8.4 per cent and fleet sales grew 6.1 per cent compared to 2016.

Fiesta Van, Transit Courier, Transit Connect, Transit Custom and Transit are all first in their respective market segments

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The new van market has experienced strong levels of demand in recent years and this dip in registrations represents a natural rebalancing of the market. Despite the decline, demand remains at an historically high level with year-to-date registrations matching 2015’s performance, which was only exceeded by demand in 2016.

“We expect demand to remain stable at this high level throughout the year.”

vans demand dips

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