Opinion: New and used van markets start strongly

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

Registrations in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) market grew for the 13th month in a row, with volumes rising 8.4% in January. 

The strong start to the year saw 23,962 new vehicles registered, 1,186 (4.9%) of these were battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

In the best January for three years (Jan 2021 – 24,209 units), sector performance was mixed. The pick-up sector recorded an 18.2% increase in registrations, whilst vans between 2.0 and 2.5 tonnes GVW rose by 60.9%.

Vans in the below 2t sector recorded a 19.8% fall in registrations.

Vans with gross vehicle weights between 2.5t and 3.5t saw registrations fall by 4.5% however, still represented nearly 62% of all units registered in the month.

Starting where they left off, Ford started the new year strongly, with the Transit Custom (1st), Transit (2nd), the Ranger pick-up (5th) and the Transit Connect in tenth (661 units) positions.

The Vauxhall Vivaro, Citroen Berlingo and the Peugeot Partner (789 units) from the Stellantis Group finished in third, fourth and ninth respectively. whilst the Volkswagen Transporter took sixth with 1,264 units, the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter finished seventh (1,235 units) and the Toyota Hilux eighth with 1,161 units.

Top five LCV registrations

YTD 2024		January 2024		January 2023
Ford Transit Custom	2,656	Ford Transit Custom	2,656	Ford Transit Custom	2,787
Ford Transit	1,898	Ford Transit	1,898	Volkswagen Transporter	1,428
Vauxhall Vivaro	1,612	Vauxhall Vivaro	1,612	Ford Ranger	1,367
Citroen Berlingo	1,598	Citroen Berlingo	1,598	Vauxhall Vivaro	1,332
Ford Ranger	1,484	Ford Ranger	1,484	Ford Transit	1,292

 

Electric van registrations

The 1,186 BEV registrations up to 3.5t GVW in January represented a 19.4% increase on January 2023.

With a market share of 4.9% (4.5% in 2023), it is clear that the uptake of cleaner vehicles must grow much faster if the UK is to reach its minimum 10% Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) Mandate requirements for 2024.   

January saw Volkswagen lead the way registering 271 ID Buzz commercial vehicles (22.8% market share).

The Renault Kangoo was second with 191 units (16.1%), the Toyota Proace City was third with 104 units (8.7%), fourth was the Peugeot e-Expert with 96 units (8.1%) and fifth was the Citroen eBerlingo with 88 units (7.4%).

An additional 116 BEVs above the 3.5t GVW were registered by Ford, Maxus and Fiat. Leading the way was the Ford E-Transit with 107 units, the eDeliver 9 registered 8 units and the Ducato, 1 unit, giving an overall BEV registration total of 1,302 units for January.

Summary

With over 60,000 BEVs registered since 2018, the industry is geared up for mass-production however, the current low levels of demand through mixed messaging is recognised as a huge stumbling block.

The changes required must be supported by a raft of Government measures to encourage businesses in their transition.

The Lords Select Committee has set out a plan of action that includes accelerating the rollout of the UK’s charging infrastructure, incentivising second-hand BEV sales and to develop a ‘battery health standard’ to support the sale; reducing the 20% VAT rate applied to public charging to 5% in line with domestic electricity and to enhance UK manufacturing and battery innovation and accelerate investment in UK vehicle and battery recycling facilities.

Used LCV market overview

2024 has started strongly with sales of LCVs in January increasing by 55.4% over December - 74.2% of all sales at auction were Euro 6 models, with an average age of nearly 54 months.  

Average mileage was just over 73,000 miles and the average selling price was nearly £10,200.

Used electric vans made up just under 1% of all sales at auction with average age of 65.2 months. Average mileage was 41,161 miles and the average selling price was nearly £7,200.

January in detail

The volume of sales increased by over 55% in January, with average sales prices increasing by 1.89% over the month, but sat nearly 15% behind the same point last year.

The average age of all vehicles sold remained static at 78 months. This was down 0.1 months on December but was exactly the same age as twelve months ago.

The average mileage reduced by 0.7% to 82,128 miles. This was 0.1% higher than January 2023.

More medium vans were sold at auction than any other vehicle type, accounting for nearly 34.3% of all auction sales.

Large vans accounted for 27.3% and small vans 24.8%. Volumes of 4x4 stock sold accounted for only 13.6% of all sales, but attracted the strongest average sales prices of £12,266, down £770 on December.

Large vans covered more distance than any other type of stock at an average of 92,820 miles. This was over 2,950 miles less than December, but over 1,075 miles more than January 2023.

First-time conversion rates for January decreased by 0.4% to 75.9% overall and sat 4.9% lower compared to the same point 12 months ago.

Broken down, the best conversion rates were seen in the large panel van sector at 78.0% (down 0.2% on December), whilst a conversion rate of 72.5% (up 2.8%) in the 4x4 pickup sector returned the lowest.

Used vehicles observed for sale in the wholesale market last month increased by 2% to just over 42,600 units - 45.0% of all vehicles on sale were valued at £20,000 or more, while 36.3% were on sale for between £20,000 and £10,000.

At the lower end of the market, those vehicles on sale in the £10,000 to £5,000 price bracket increased to 14.8% of the overall market, whilst 3.9% were on sale for less than £5,000.