Ford dominance of new van market continues

By Andy Picton, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s

The new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market in May grew for the fifth straight month, rising by 15.3% to 25,359 units. Year-to-date 135,296 units have been registered to the end of May, a 14.7% increase on twelve months ago.

Registration performance in May was positive, with all sectors except Vans under 2.0t showing an improvement.

Pickups recorded a 13.3% increase, while Vans between 2.0 and 2.5 tonnes GVW and Vans between 2.5 and 3.5 tonne gross vehicle weight (GVW) sectors rose by 57.2% and 8.3% respectively.

The latter at 17,173 units accounting for 67.7% market share. Registrations in the diminishing Vans under 2.0t sector fell by 42.3% recording a total of 469 units.

After five months of 2023, Ford hold the top three registration positions with the Transit Custom, Transit and Ranger respectively accounting for over a quarter of all registrations.

Ford continue their dominance in the UK market in May, with the Transit Custom and Transit retaining first and second positions and Ranger placing in fifth.

The Stellantis Group saw the Vauxhall Vivaro finish in third spot, the Citroen Berlingo in fourth, Peugeot Partner seventh (1,024 units) and Peugeot Expert in tenth with 702 units registered.

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter claimed sixth spot with 1,215 units, the Renault Trafic eighth (846 units) and the Volkswagen Transporter ninth (760 units).

Although May represents the fifth consecutive month of rising deliveries, registrations are still 13% down on 2019 pre-pandemic levels.

Within these registrations it is worth noting that zero emission LCVs made up 19.7%, or one in 24 of all new vehicles on the road in May.

The 1,041 units registered in May was a near 20% increase on twelve months ago.

Year-to-date, BEV registrations have reached 7,028 units, 15.5% up on twelve months ago (6,085 units), with a market share of 5.2% (5.2% 2022).

Stellantis leads the BEV registrations with 63.8% market share, followed by Maxus with 11.01%.

The Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate is launched next year forcing every manufacturer to build an increasing proportion of zero emission electric vehicles in the run up to 2030.

The LCV quota for 2024 is 10%, rising to 70% in 2030 and 100% by 2035. This will be a huge task for manufacturers, with those unlikely to meet those targets possibly deterred from selling diesel vehicles in the UK to avoid paying huge penalties.

With the current supply problems not fully resolved, this could be another issue for the industry to consider, along with a rapid improvement to the infrastructure to support the anticipated influx of new battery electric vans.

Used LCV market overview

With an increasing number of operators now de-fleeting stock that should have been during the pandemic, there is an increasing number of older LCVs available in the wholesale market.

With the supply of 2-5-year-old stock sparse, buyers are opting to purchase vehicles in the 5-10-year-old age bracket, where availability is more stable.

Sales of electric vans remain slow, with battery durability, affordability and perceived lack of charging infrastructure the biggest barriers to adoption in the used market.

May in detail

A strong month has seen sales increase by 2.5% versus April and are 7.3% higher than at the same point twelve months ago.

Average sales prices have dipped by 2% over the month and are also 2% below May 2022 levels.

As with previous months, the used medium van sector was the most popular. These models accounted for nearly 37% of all auction sales, while 4x4 stock was again the least popular (15.8%) but attracted the strongest average sales prices of £13,500, down £1,433 on April.

The average age of vehicles sold during May decreased by one month to 81.1 months, with the average mileage of those vehicles climbing by 0.7% to 83,396 miles. This is just over 550 miles higher than 12 months ago.

Large vans covered more distance than any other model type at an average of 89,141 miles, a near 300-mile reduction on April.

First-time conversion rates for May fell 5.5% to 75.5% overall - as older and harder-worked stock entered the market - but still remained 8.0% higher than 12 months ago.

This decline was reflected across all sectors with the Small van sector returning the best conversion rate of 76.7% (down 6.9% on April). 4x4 Pickups recorded a fall of 1.6% to 76.4%, Medium vans 76.1% (down 5.7%) and large panel vans 71.6 % (down 4.7%).

Used vehicles observed for sale in the wholesale market last month rose 0.75% to just over 41,500 units. 51.3% of all vehicles on sale were valued at £20,000 or more, while 33% were on sale for between £20,000 and £10,000. At the lower end of the market, 11.6% of all vehicles were on sale for between £10,000 and £5,000. Those on sale for less than £5,000 remained at 4.1% of the overall market.