{"id":7090,"date":"2015-02-05T16:38:47","date_gmt":"2015-02-05T16:38:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=7090"},"modified":"2015-02-05T16:38:47","modified_gmt":"2015-02-05T16:38:47","slug":"van-registrations-rise-by-21-7-in-january","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/7090","title":{"rendered":"Van registrations rise by 21.7% in January"},"content":{"rendered":"

New van registrations rose by 21.7% in January, compared to the same period last year, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).<\/p>\n

The truck market also returned to growth — after the\u00a0distortion caused by the\u00a0introduction of Euro 6<\/a> emissions legislation and Type Approval Regulations<\/a> — with\u00a0sales rising by 38.6% in January compared to January 2014.<\/p>\n

UK van and truck registrations: 2015 and % change on 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nJanuary<\/strong><\/td>\n% change<\/strong><\/td>\nYear-to-date<\/strong><\/td>\n% change<\/strong><\/td>\nRolling year<\/strong><\/td>\n% change<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Vans<\/strong><\/td>\n22,049<\/td>\n21.7%<\/td>\n22,049<\/td>\n21.7%<\/td>\n325,613<\/td>\n19.2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Trucks<\/strong><\/td>\n2,518<\/td>\n38.6%<\/td>\n2,518<\/td>\n38.6%<\/td>\n42,170<\/td>\n-23.5%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total<\/strong><\/td>\n24,567<\/td>\n23.2%<\/td>\n24,567<\/td>\n23.2%<\/td>\n367,783<\/td>\n12.0%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Source: Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT)<\/em><\/p>\n

Mike Hawes, the\u00a0SMMT’s chief executive, said the gains were a return to business as usual and indicated growing confidence in the economy:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe truck market posted a strong return to form in January. Changes to Euro Standards and Type Approval Regulations in 2014 affected demand last year, and now we are starting to see a return to business as usual,\u201d said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive.<\/p>\n

The number of vans registered this month has once again increased, reflecting raised levels of business confidence and demand for a range of efficient, well equipped models. Successes in both markets have seen the total commercial vehicle market grow significantly for a ninth consecutive month.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As the graph below shows, new van registrations have now risen by around 80% since\u00a0the start of 2010:<\/p>\n

\"SMMT

Graph courtesy of SMMT<\/p><\/div>\n

Which vans are the big sellers?<\/h3>\n

As usual, growth in van sales\u00a0was not evenly distributed. The biggest\u00a0gains in percentage terms\u00a0were in the 2.0-2.5t category, where new registrations rose from 2,458 units\u00a0in January 2014 to 4,006 units last month.<\/p>\n

Large vans in the 2.5-3.5t category were also strong sellers, adding 1,428 units, or 13.9%, to take total registrations\u00a0to 11,702 during the first month of 2015.<\/p>\n

What about the second-hand market?<\/h3>\n

The obvious question, of course, is how many of these new sales — if any — are stealing sales from\u00a0the\u00a0used van market.<\/p>\n

I’ve been speculating on this issue for a while, and although I believe the majority of new van sales are to\u00a0large buyers who only purchase new, I suspect that a percentage of these gains does represent smaller businesses switching back from used to new, as the economy — and their business outlook — improves.<\/p>\n

The other question, of course, is if new sales are rising, are supplies of second-hand vans? The combination of this plus a greater percentage of\u00a0buyers choosing the new option could end up weakening demand for used vans<\/a>, although I don’t think this will happen for a little while longer.<\/p>\n

One to watch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New van and truck registrations rose by 23.2% in January 2015, compared to the same month last year, according to the latest figures from the SMMT.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[310,1885],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7092,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7090\/revisions\/7092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}