New light van registrations fell once again in July – a 9% sales decline year-on-year when compared to July 2023 – with particularly worrying registration results for the electric van market.
According to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a hundred under 25,000 new LCVs arrived on British roads last month, which is around 2,300 less registrations than the same month last year.
The SMMT remains upbeat, noting that despite this recent sales slump, the new LCV market has still grown by around 3% this year so far. However, if this trend continues, that sales margin will only continue to decrease.
Pickup and 4×4 sales fell by 5% and 2% respectively, while large vans (between two-and-a-half and three-an-a-half tonnes) – which make up the large majority of new van sales – fell by 12% in July. The surge in small van registrations (under two tonnes) continued, up 118% year-on-year.
BEV registrations falling well short of targets
While the LCV market shrank by a concerning 9% last month, July’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.
In what is now a continuing downward trend, BEV sales fell by 15% year-on-year last month, and while this result isn’t as serious as March’s rather disastrous 42% electric van sales drop, 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 0.4% lower than the BEV market share a year ago.
Less than 1,400 new electric vans were registered last month, and the annual registration total now stands at around 8,300 battery-powered models. This time last year, BEV sales had already surpassed 9,700 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
Many of the LCV manufacturers will be rather disappointed with their sales performance last month.
Holding the biggest market share, Ford’s sales grew by 14% year-on-year, after several months of relative stagnation. The likes of Mercedes-Benz, Iveco and Land Rover also 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 comeptitors, including the likes of Citroën, Peugeot, Maxus, Toyota and Vauxhall. All of these brands underachieved compared to the overall market by at least 10% (and in some cases, by a lot more than that).
An insurmountable sales lead?
One LCV model dominated the sales charts in 2023, and the same van has a comfortable lead once again this year. As o July 2024, the Ford Transit Custom now holds a rather ridiculous 15,000 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 July.
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.
