2016 marks the strongest van market ever

“New light commercial vehicle sales rose 1% in 2016 compared with last year, marking the highest light commercial vehicle market ever with a total of 375,687 units registered”, said Sue Robinson, Director of the National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) which represents franchised car and commercial vehicle retailers across the UK, commenting on the SMMT’s commercial vehicle registration figures.

In December, the new light commercial vehicle market up to 3.5 tonnes declined by -10.4%. This decrease is justified by the unusually strong figures seen in December 2015. Nevertheless, annual figures remained higher than last year.
Robinson continued, “Large vans between 2.5-3.5 tonnes, which are primarily acquired by businesses and corporate fleets, drove the market in 2016 accounting for 62% of all LCV registrations. This segment saw a decline of -17.3% in December, but in the year remained 4.8% stronger than 2015.

“Sales of ‘pick-ups’ have increased significantly (+17.6%) in 2016 and December’s figures confirmed this positive trend (+52%). These vehicles are often used in the building trade by both fleets and self-employed builders and these strong figures may reflect the growing confidence in the UK construction industry.

“Ford, with its vast range of commercials, has dominated LCV sales this year with a total of 115,554 vehicles registered and a market share of 30.76%. Volkswagen and Vauxhall followed with over 40,000 units registered and a market share of over 11% each.

“Despite challenges, we hope to see a stable market in 2017 as the majority of newly purchased vans are currently being used for domestic services and internet deliveries, which is a continuously growing industry.”