Van hire companies are among the biggest buyers of new vans each year in the UK. They’re particularly big buyers of vans in the 2.5-3.5t weight category, such as the Ford Transit Custom and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
New registrations of models in this segment rose by 2% to 17,349 in May, according to figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) this week.
There was also a strong surge in demand for vans in the 2.0-2.5t weight category, where registrations rose by 21% to 4,269. This segment includes the popular Citroen Berlingo. I suspect that such a large increase was caused by a major fleet order being delivered — perhaps Royal Mail or another large user of this model.
Offsetting these gains was a 21% fall in registrations of vans with a maximum gross weight of under 2.0t. Models in this segment include car-derived vans like the Fiesta Van and compact models like the Citroen Nemo.
The overall results was that van registrations rose by 2.4% in May, providing some stability after a period of declines:
Ford is still the top seller
None of these changes had any impact on the best seller lists, where Ford continues to dominate. The Transit Custom was the UK’s best-selling van in May with 4,237 new models hitting the road — 57% more than the second-placed Ford Transit.