New van registrations fell once more in October, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), dropping 8.1% compared to October 2011 and giving a 6.5% fall for the year to date.

Unfortunately, as I predicted last month, September’s 1% gain was only down to the ’62’ plate change and we are now back to normality. Van registration remain below both 2010 and 2011 levels and are 3.6% down on a rolling year basis.

Despite truck registrations (>3.5t) being up 13% on the year to date, they also fell by 8.1% in October, and as the graph below shows, van and truck registrations appear to be drooping as we approach the end of 2012:

Commercial vehicle registrations 2007 - October 2012 (courtesy of SMMT)

Van registrations fell in all categories of except for the pick-up and 4×4 categories (which are included as light commercial vehicles). Pick-up registrations rose by 18.7% in October, while 4×4 registrations gained 9.5%.

Truck registrations were dragged down by big falls in the 3.5t – 6.0t category (which remains up 41% on the year to date) and the 3-axle artic category, where sales fell by 19.6% in October, taking the fall for the year to date to 8.8%. Registrations rose in all of the other truck categories.

Ford Remains Dominant

Ford hit the news recently when it announced the closure of its Ford Transit plant in Southampton, but it remains the dominant manufacturer in the UK’s light commercial vehicle market, with 29.4% of market share in October and 26.7% for the year to date.

In second place, Volkswagen has arond 12.5% of the market, just above Luton-based Vauxhall, which has around 11%.

Peugeot, Mercedes, Citroen and Renault account for a further 31% of the market, followed by Nissan, Toyota, Fiat, Land Rover, Mitsubishi and Iveco.