More than 1,000 new vans were registered every day in June, according to the latest figures from the SMMT, leaving new registrations up by 33% on the same period last year, at 30,712.

June’s strong performance means that year-to-date van registrations are up by nearly 17% on last year, while rolling year registrations (the last twelve months compared the preceding twelve months) are up by 16%, continuing the strong growth seen already this year.

Van and truck registrations rolling year January 2010 – June 2014. Vans are the dark blue line ( graph courtesy of SMMT)

Mike Hawes, the SMMT chief executive, says that the van market has outperformed expectations so far this year:

“The van market has shown another strong performance in June, yielding higher-than-expected growth for the year so far. This has helped the total commercial vehicle market achieve half-year growth of more than 11%, despite a somewhat depressed truck sector.”

Truck sales had their day in the sun last year, ahead of the introduction of Euro 6 legislation, but dealers have paid the price this year, with sales down by 23% so far this year compared to the first six months of 2013.

Which vans are selling?

Drilling down further into the van results, it seems that sales are strongest in the 2.0t – 2.5t and 2.5t – 3.5t sectors, which include models such as the Ford Transit Connect, Ford Transit Custom and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter — traditional fleet workhorses.

Registrations of vans between 2.0t and 2.5t have risen by 36.9% to 27,011 so far this year, while sales of larger models (2.5t – 3.5t) have risen by 19.4%, to 87,598 units.