New van and truck sales continued to rise during February: new van registrations rose by 17.9% during the month, compared to the same period last year, while truck sales fared better with a 31.7% increase, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

UK van and truck registrations: 2015 and % change on 2014

Source: SMMT (www.smmt.co.uk)

Commenting on the figures, Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said:

“The van market continues to expand, posting a tenth consecutive month of increases as improving confidence among SMEs and consumers takes effect. The growing demand for both vans and trucks has delivered a month of impressive performance for the total commercial vehicle sector once again.”

To save me a thousand words, here’s a picture showing how truck and van sales have changed since January 2010:

Graph courtesy of SMMT

As usual, it was the 2.5t to 3.5t category (e.g. Ford Transit, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter) that was driving the majority of sales growth. This is by far the largest section of the van market and has accounted for 20,051 of the 35,881 vans registered so far this year. Interestingly, new registrations in this category rose by 29.3% in February, while sales of smaller vans were broadly flat.

However, sales of smaller 2.0-2.5t vans (e.g. Citroën Berlingo) have risen by 40.5% over the last twelve months, so perhaps it was simply a case of no major fleet orders going through in February?

Finally, a word about the used market: I’ve written at length about my view of how the rise in new sales are beginning to impact the used van market, and that’s a subject I’ll revisit later this month, when we get the latest auction sales figures from BCA and Manheim.