New registrations of light commercial vehicles fell by 11.1% in November, according to new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), the UK automotive industry’s trade body.

This is the third consecutive months of falling registrations, leaving the UK LCV market down by 4.1% so far this year. The growth seen during the first half of the year has been well and truly reversed.

As you can see from the figures below, the only two segments of the market to show growth over the first eleven months of 2017 were pickups and vans in the 2.0-2.5t weight bracket. But even in these popular segments of the market, registrations fell last month:

LCV registrations November 2017 (source: SMMT)

In my view, it’s certainly starting to look as though the record registrations seen in 2016 marked the peak of the market:

UK van registrations rolling year November 2011-2017 (source: SMMT)

Ford is still on top

Sales numbers may have changed, but Ford’s dominance of the UK van market hasn’t. Almost one in three of the LCVs registered in November had a blue oval on its radiator grill, as has been the case throughout this year:

Best sellers LCV under 3.5t November 2017 (source: SMMT)

I don’t expect the proportions of these figures to change much next year. But I believe we could see further falls in new registrations next year. Watch this space.