By Andy Picton, chief commercial vehicle editor at Glass’s
Following two months of decline, the UK’s light commercial vehicle (LCV) market saw growth for the second month in a row.
The best September performance in four years - up 8.3% - saw 48,455 new vans and 4x4s registered during the month, making it the busiest month this year for fleet renewal except March.
A total of 267,339 LCVs have now been registered year-to-date, a 3.6% increase on the 257,979 units registered to the end of Q3 last year.
Demand for LCVs was positive across all sectors except in the pickup sector where demand fell 16%.
Vans in the >2.5-3.5t gross vehicle weight (GVW) sector remains the most popular with registrations rising by 8.6%.
The 31,645 registrations represented 65.3% of all units registered during the month.
New vans in the below 2.0 tonne sector totalled 1,180 units, a 34.1% increase on September 2023, whilst vans between 2.0 and 2.5 tonnes GVW category recorded a 34.8% rise over the same period to 9,552 units.
Ford once again claimed the top three registration spots in September, with the Transit Custom, Transit and Ranger pickup leading the way.
The Volkswagen Transporter finished fourth, whilst Stellantis Pro One saw the Peugeot Partner finish fifth, the Vauxhall Combo eighth with 2,159 units, the Vauxhall Vivaro ninth (2,093 units) and the Citroen Berlingo in 10th (1,829 units).
The remaining top ten spots were claimed by the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in sixth with 2,248 units and the Renault Trafic in seventh with 2,247 units.
Top five LCV registrations
|
YTD 2024 |
September 2024 |
September 2023 |
|||
|
Ford Transit Custom |
35,517 |
Ford Transit Custom |
7,570 |
Ford Transit Custom |
5,103 |
|
Ford Transit |
23,517 |
Ford Transit |
4,518 |
Ford Transit |
3,470 |
|
Ford Ranger |
15,412 |
Ford Ranger |
2,980 |
Vauxhall Vivaro |
3,086 |
|
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter |
14,252 |
Volkswagen Transporter |
2,778 |
Ford Ranger |
3,031 |
|
Vauxhall Vivaro |
13,261 |
Peugeot Partner |
2,313 |
Volkswagen Transporter |
2,385 |
Electric van registrations
Despite overall market growth, battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations fell by 18.7% in September with only 2,342 units up to 3.5t GVW registered compared with 2,882 units twelve months ago.
This is the fourth successive month of decline and represents a monthly market share of only 4.8%.
Year-to-date, 12,944 units have been registered. This is down 9.5% on September 2023 when 14,296 units were registered.
The BEV market share currently stands at 4.8% of the overall market, down 0.7% on twelve months ago.
With three months of the year remaining, it is going to take a colossal turnaround to achieve the required ZEV Mandate target of 10% for 2024 and reflects a fleet sector that is lacking in confidence, put off by the current lack of appropriate infrastructure and effective support from the existing Government.
Battery electric LCV registrations up to 3.5t GVW
|
Manufacturer – September 2024 |
Range – September 2024 |
Manufacturer YTD EV Sales |
YTD EV Regs as % of Overall Sales |
|
Peugeot 704 |
Peugeot e-Partner 396 |
Peugeot 2,760 |
BYD 100.0 |
|
Volkswagen 349 |
Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo 349 |
Vauxhall 2,026 |
Peugeot 14.1 |
|
Vauxhall 206 |
Peugeot e-Expert 308 |
Volkswagen 1,776 |
Nissan 13.1 |
|
Mercedes-Benz 204 |
Mercedes-Benz eVito 165 |
Ford 1,328 |
Maxus 11.9 |
|
Ford 182 |
Vauxhall Vivaro Electric 157 |
Renault 1,094 |
Vauxhall 7.5 |
Peugeot performed best in September registering 704 units. This was 30% of the overall BEV total.
Volkswagen were second with 349 units (14.9%) and Vauxhall claimed third with 206 units (8.8%). Mercedes-Benz saw 204 new BEVs hit the road (8.7%) and Ford 182 units (7.8%).
By range, the Peugeot e-Partner was top registering 396 units, followed by the Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo van with 349 units and the Peugeot e-Expert with 308 units.
The Mercedes-Benz eVito was fourth with 165 units and the Vauxhall Vivaro Electric placed fifth with 157 units.
The remaining top 10 spots were filled by the BYD ETP3 (155 units), the Renault Kangoo E-Tech (139 units), the Nissan Townstar EV (137 units), the recently launched Ford Transit E-Custom (119 units) and Toyota Proace City Electric (83 units).
After eight months, BYD (100%), Peugeot (14.1%), Nissan (13.1%) and Maxus (11.9%) are currently the only manufacturers to meet the minimum 10% ZEV mandate sales share target for 2024.
Further adrift is Vauxhall with 7.5%, Toyota (7.3%) and Volkswagen (6.3%). The remaining manufacturers in the top ten, Renault (5.1%), Citroen (4.9%) and Mercedes-Benz (4.8%) still have work to do.
An additional 678 BEVs from Ford, Iveco, Maxus and Mercedes-Benz (152 units – September 2023) between 3.5t-4.25t GVW, were registered as part of the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme (VETS) and contributed towards overall manufacturer targets.
A BEV registration total of 3,020 units for the month is down 0.5% on twelve months ago, whilst a YTD total of 14,188 units reflects a depressed BEV market down 7.7% on the same point last year.
Used LCV market overview
With stock availability at auction up a third on 2023, it is low mileage vehicles under three years old that have been achieving the best results.
As prices continue to fall for high mileage, harder-worked, base spec stock, so trade buyers have shied away, citing long bodyshop lead times, spare part delays and further price drops as reasons to focus on those vehicles that can be turned the fastest.
There is a general upward trend in conversion rates at auction, but with some variances dependent on stock quality.
Retail buyers continue to see higher finance rates affect their buying power, with many trade sites reporting that business is quieter than hoped.
Many operators are choosing not to replace at present but keep their current vehicle at least until the budget has been announced.
As a result, the number of vehicles sold during September increased by nearly 6% on August and over 15% on twelve months ago.
The average selling price has also increased 1.9% over the month but is down a considerable 23.8% year-on-year.
The current used market though remains buoyant with 13.8% more vehicles sold than in September 2019, prior to the pandemic, with an average selling price now nearly 24.4% higher.
Of the vehicles sold at auction during September, 78.6% were Euro 6 at an average age of 55.6 months and average mileage of 73,419 miles (73,682 miles in August).
Used electric vans continue to underperform, with sales contributing to only 1.05% of the overall market, up from 1.03% in August.
The average age of these vehicles increased to 69.9 months, up from 49.2 months, whilst average mileage also increased to 34,104 miles from 30,929 miles. Euro 5 stock made up the remaining 20.3% of sales, down 2.9% on the previous period.
September in detail
The average age of sold stock in September fell from 79.5 months to 77 months but was 1.8 months older than twelve months ago.
Average mileage over the month fell by 0.9% to 79,919 miles but was 3.7% higher than twelve months ago.
Sales of medium sized vans continue to outweigh all others at auction, accounting for 35.8% of all auction sales in the month. Small vans accounted for 27.5% and large vans 25.8%.
Volumes of sold 4x4 pickup stock accounted for only 10.9% of all sales – down 0.5%, but recorded the highest average sale price at £12,283, down 1.5% on August.
Large vans covered more distance than any other vehicle type at an average of 89,424 miles. This was up over 1,200 miles on the previous month and 1,900 miles on the same point last year.
First-time conversion rates improved by 0.5% to 73.2% overall but were 2.6% lower than twelve months ago.
Broken down, the best conversion rates for the month were achieved in the 4x4 pickup sector at 77.9% (up 7.6%), whilst a conversion rate of 69.4% (down 1.6%) in the large panel van sector returned the lowest.
Used vehicles observed for sale in the retail market last month remained static at 46,540 units. Of these, 94% were diesel models, 1.8% were petrol, 0.5% were PHEV and 3.4% were BEVs. 37.5% of all vehicles on sale were valued at £20,000 or more, while 37.1% were on sale for between £20,000 and £10,000.
At the lower end of the market, those vehicles on sale between £10,000 - £5,000 increased by 1.3% to 20.7% of the overall market, whilst 4.7% were on sale for less than £5,000.
White vehicles continue to make up over 50% of all those observed for sale followed by grey at 15.7% and silver at 10.4%.
The average age of all vehicles in September remained static at 57 months whilst the average mileage fell to 59,000 miles, a fall of 0.3% on August.
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