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:
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):
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:
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.
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