Rolling year UK van registrations June 2011 - June 2017

New van registrations climb 1.8% in June but fall in H1

 

New van registrations rose by 1.8% to 37,349 units in June, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

However, the first half of the year saw overall demand fall, with a 3.7% drop in the total number of light commercial vehicles registered during the period.

In reality, this isn’t a bad performance given the previous two years of record-breaking growth:

Rolling year UK van registrations June 2011 - June 2017

Source: SMMT

As Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive explains, some cooling of the market was always likely:

“After two years of record growth in the new van market, it’s natural to see demand ease as the sector reaches a sustainable running rate. However, as these figures show, the market remains at a high level and we expect similar patterns of demand to continue throughout the year.”

The figures for June show a continuation of three main trends from the first half of the year — growth in demand for pickups and small vans, offset by falling demand for big vans (2.5-3.5t):

LCV registrations June 2017 YTD

Source: SMMT

Growth in demand for pickups has been remarkable. So far this year, new pickup registrations have outnumbered registrations of small vans (2.0-2.5t), such as the Citroen Berlingo and Ford Transit Connect. In my view, the pickup boom is largely down to fashion and favourable tax treatment for company buyers, but it will be interesting to see where this ends up.

What is certain is that Ford appears to remain top dog in the high volume medium and large van markets. Once again, the Ford Transit Custom topped the best-seller list in June:

Best-selling vans June 2017

The success of the Transit Custom model seems to have validated Ford’s move to split the old Transit into two — the larger 2-tonne Transit and the smaller Transit Custom.

3 thoughts on “New van registrations climb 1.8% in June but fall in H1

  1. Pingback: Used van prices under pressure but ex-rental volumes ease | Van News: The VanRental.co.uk Blog

  2. Pingback: Top-selling Ford Transit Custom will be updated for 2018 | Van News: The VanRental.co.uk Blog

  3. Pingback: New van registrations stack up with 1.1% gain in July | Van News: The VanRental.co.uk Blog

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