New light van registrations grew by 8% last month – a four-year September high that coincides with yet another poor registrations result for the electric van market.
According to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), around 48,500 new LCVs arrived on British roads last month, which is over 3,500 more registrations than the same month last year.
September is a big month for the motoring sector, as plenty of car and van buyers wait for last month’s ’74’ nameplate change, which balloons registration totals.
Pickup and 4×4 sales fell by 16% and 42% respectively, while large vans (between two-and-a-half and three-an-a-half tonnes) – which account for the large majority of the sales uptick – grew by 8% in September. The surge in small van registrations (under two tonnes) continued, up 34% year-on-year.
Shrinking BEV market showing no signs of improving
The electric van sales (BEVs) fell by 19% in September, which is actually a significant improvement over the BEV sector’s 30% sales nosedive in August. This is made considerably more depressing for electric van advocates when you consider the targets set for the BEV market at the start of the year.
The government’s Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme is targeting a BEV market share of 10% for each brand by the end of 2024. However, electric vans still only account for just under 5% of the overall new LCV sales, and this market share is currently 0.7% lower than the BEV market share a year ago.
Now, after the BEV market failed to record any kind of sales growth (excluding BEV trucks) in traditionally one of the highest-volume months of the year, reaching that 10% target by the close of 2024 is near impossible. A pattern has now formed and these results clearly display the decreasing demand for BEVs in the UK.
Over 2,300 new electric vans were registered last month, which is around 500 models shy of the BEV sales total in September 2023. The annual registration total now stands at around 13,000 battery-powered models. This time last year, BEV sales had already surpassed 14,000 models. Diesel sales account for a huge 92% of the market – still comfortably dwarfing demand for electric vans.
So, why is the BEV market not growing like the electric car market? With each manufacturer now mandated to achieve a minimum proportion of zero-emission registrations every year, this has been a worrying development for the BEV sector. The SMMT points to declining demand, and argues that increasing the rollout of charging stations – including van-specific charging infrastructure – will increase consumer BEV interest.
Good month, bad month
Some LCV manufacturers recorded great sales wins last month, while a few others failed to keep pace.
Holding the biggest market share, Ford’s sales grew by 20% year-on-year, after several months of mid-year stagnation. The likes of Mercedes-Benz, Renault, Volkswagen, Fiat, Iveco and Isuzu also increased their registration numbers by 10% or over in September year-on-year.
Conversely, it wasn’t a healthy month of sales for the likes of Peugeot, Citroën, and Nissan. All of these brands underachieved compared to the overall market by at least 10% (and in some cases, by a lot more than that). Toyota had a particularly bad month, and could not match even half of its September 2023 sales total.
Should we just hand the award out now?
One LCV model dominated the sales charts in 2023, and the same van has an even more comfortable lead this year. As of September 2024, the Ford Transit Custom now holds a rather ridiculous 22,000-model sales lead over its closest market competitor, the Vauxhall Vivaro.
Its larger Transit sibling remains in second place, and the Ford Ranger – the UK’s most popular pickup model by a country mile, sits in third. Ford is dominating the sales race with all three podium positions currently held, but can competing models from other brands snatch a place in the top three before the end of 2024?
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter – which directly rivals the sales of the Ford Transit – is showing more consistent sales form, and holds on to fourth in the annual race after September.
The race for the ‘it’s-not-a-Ford’ title is still relatively close outside of the top three, with the Sprinter followed by the Vivaro and the Volkswagen Transporter in fifth and sixth respectively. The Renault Trafic, Citroën Berlingo, Vauxhall Combo and Peugeot Partner complete the annual sales standings, as the Ford Transit Connect falls out of the top ten.
