Demand for new vans remained solid in January, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The trade body’s latest figures show that van registrations rose by 1.2% to 21,363 in January 2017.

UK van registrations Jan 2011 – Jan 2017 (source: SMMT)

A closer look at the figureA closer look at the figures shows that this growth was concentrated at the top end of the van market. There was an increase of 5.6% in the number of vans between 2.5t and 3.5t hitting the road in January, compared to the same period last year.

Smaller vans appear out of favour. Registrations of sub-2.0t models fell by 16%, perhaps because there are increasingly few such models to choose from, while 2.0-2.5t units rose by just 3.1%.

January’s top sellers

One thing that doesn’t change is the top seller list.

Ford continued to wipe the floor with its competitors in January. The blue oval bagged the top three places in the best seller table, leaving rivals such as Vauxhall, Renault and Mercedes-Benz lagging seriously behind:

LCV best sellers in January 2017 (source: SMMT)