New light van registrations grew by a modest 2% in August – following poor sales totals in both June and July – as declining demand in the electric van market continues to cause worries.
According to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), around 16,500 new LCVs arrived on British roads last month, which is around 200 more registrations than the same month last year.
In what is usually a low-volume registrations month as buyers wait for the nameplate change in September, the SMMT comments that this is the best August sales result since 2021. Under the hood however, the sales figures aren’t as impressive as that fact suggests.
Pickup and 4×4 sales fell by 3% and 13% respectively, while large vans (between two-and-a-half and three-an-a-half tonnes) – which account for the large majority of the minor sales uptick – grew by 2% in August. The surge in small van registrations (under two tonnes) continued, up 25% year-on-year.
BEV registrations down 30% in August
While the BEV market shrank by a concerning 30% last month, August’s battery-electric vehicle (BEV) registration totals are considerably more depressing when you consider the targets set for the BEV market at the start of the year.
While this result isn’t as serious as March’s rather disastrous 42% electric van sales drop, a pattern has now formed and these results clearly display the decreasing demand for BEVs in the UK.
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 0.5% lower than the BEV market share a year ago.
Less than 900 new electric vans were registered last month, and the annual registration total now stands at around 10,600 battery-powered models. This time last year, BEV sales had already surpassed 11,400 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 first half of the year 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
It was a rather mixed result for LCV manufacturers in August.
Holding the biggest market share, Ford’s sales grew by 9% year-on-year, after several months of relative stagnation. The likes of Mercedes-Benz, Renault and Land Rover instead increased their registration numbers by 10% or over in July year-on-year.
Conversely, it wasn’t a healthy month of sales for most of the market competitors, including the likes of Volkswagen, Citroën, Nissan, Toyota and Maxus. All of these brands underachieved compared to the overall market by at least 10% (and in some cases, by a lot more than that).
A run-away winner
One LCV model dominated the sales charts in 2023, and the same van has an even more comfortable lead this year. As of August 2024, the Ford Transit Custom now holds a rather ridiculous 17,000-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 close this seemly insurmountable sales gap 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 August.
The race for the ‘best-of-the-rest’ title is still close outside of the top three however, with the Sprinter followed by the Vivaro and the Volkswagen Transporter in fifth and sixth respectively. The Renault Trafic, Citroën Berlingo, Ford Transit Connect and Vauxhall Combo complete the annual sales standings.
