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

Registrations in the light commercial vehicle (LCV) market grew for the fifteenth straight month, with the new plate helping volumes rise 11.1% in March.

Some 52,916 new LCVs were registered in March, with 2,906 (5.5%) of these, battery electric vehicles (BEVs).

In the best March for three years (Mar 2021 – 56,122 units), there was growth across all-bar one of the sectors.

The pickup sector recorded a 0.1% increase in registrations, whilst vans in the below 2.0 tonne sector rose by 44.8%.

Vans with gross vehicle weights between 2.5t and 3.5t saw registrations rise by 16.1% and represented over 67.3% of all units registered in the month.

Vans between 2.0 and 2.5 tonnes GVW was the only sector to disappoint with a recorded fall of 3.6%.

Ford recorded a super-strong month, with the Transit Custom, Transit and the Ranger pickup taking the top three places respectively, and the Ford Transit Connect finishing in seventh (1,959 units). Overall, Ford accounted for 33% of all registrations in March.

The Volkswagen Transporter finished in fourth and the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in fifth. The Vauxhall Vivaro and Citroen Berlingo from the Stellantis Group finished sixth (1,977 units) and ninth (1,876 units), whilst the Renault Trafic claimed eighth spot with 1,903 units and the Toyota Hilux tenth registering 1,711 units.

Top five LCV registrations

YTD 2024		March 2024		March 2023
Ford Transit Custom	12,076	Ford Transit Custom	7,809	Ford Transit Custom	6,257
Ford Transit	8,600	Ford Transit	4,864	Ford Transit	3,951
Ford Ranger	5,106	Ford Ranger	2,881	Ford Ranger	2,848
Vauxhall Vivaro	4,762	Volkswagen Transporter	2,773	Volkswagen Transporter	2,678
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter	4,649	Mercedes-Benz Sprinter	2,089	Citroen Berlingo	2,617

 

Electric van registrations

The new March number plate month saw more operators than ever add new electric vans to their fleets. 2,906 new BEVs were registered which represented a monthly market share of 5.5% - up 0.2% on 12 months ago.

However, the YTD market share of 5.2% is only a 0.1% improvement on 2023 and reflects a market that is struggling to integrate BEVs into their everyday businesses.

With operators short on confidence, maintaining incentives and installing a dedicated LCV-suitable network of public chargers as soon as possible is imperative if fleets, small businesses and sole traders are to gain the confidence to make the switch and on a wider scale, the industry is to meet their ZEV Mandate targets for the year.

March saw Peugeot charge to top spot registering 879 electric light commercial vehicles (30.2% share of EV market), ahead of Vauxhall (362 units – 12.5% market share) and Renault – (357 units – 12.3% market share). Volkswagen were fourth with 330 units (11.4%) and Ford fifth with 265 units (9.1%).

By range, Peugeot registered 812 eExpert medium vans in March. This was over twice as many as the second placed Renault Kangoo E-Tech with 357 units.

The Volkswagen ID Buzz Cargo was third with 330 units, fourth was the Vauxhall Vivaro Electric with 246 units and fifth was the Ford E-Transit with 208 units.

YTD, only Peugeot with 17.1% and BYD (100%) currently meet the minimum 10% mandate sales share target for BEVs. Renault with 9.1% is not far away, whilst Maxus (8.6%), Nissan (8.1%) Vauxhall (7.3%) and Volkswagen (7.1%) are edging closer to the goals set.

An additional 98 BEVs above the 3.5t GVW from Ford, Fiat, Maxus and Mercedes-Benz were registered during the month, giving an overall BEV registration total of 3,004 units for March.

Used LCV market overview

March recorded a steady level of stock availability, with supply and demand generally well-aligned.

The Easter break saw the market slow a little as buyers took time away, but stock profile remained relatively steady over the month.

An over-supply of large panel vans into the used market at the beginning of April has resulted in buyers taking a more cautious approach, with many under-performing as a result.

The volume of sales in March remained static, with nearly three quarters of these Euro 6 models, with an average age of 53.2 months.  

Average mileage remained relatively unchanged as well at just under 73,300 miles with an average selling price of £9,825, down £175 on February.

Used electric vans made up nearly 1.7% of all sales at auction, down 0.3% on February, with an average age of 60.4 months.

Average mileage was just over 37,700 miles with an average selling price that was up £100 from February at £5,000. Euro 5 stock made up the remaining 24.8% of sales.

March in detail

The volume of sales remained static, but average sales prices fell by 3.5% over the month and were nearly 17% lower than at the end of March 2023.

The average age of all vehicles sold increased from 77.3 months to 78.9 months but was down 3.1 months on twelve months ago.

A slight increase of 0.1% in the average mileage was also recorded, with mileages up from 80,938 miles to 81,045 miles. This figure was 4.1% lower than March 2023.

More medium vans were sold at auction than any other vehicle type, accounting for 34% of all auction sales. Large vans accounted for 26.7% and small vans 26.6%.

 Volumes of 4x4 stock sold accounted for only 10.7% of all sales but attracted the strongest average sales price of £12,253 (down £845 – Feb 2024).

Large vans covered more distance than any other type of stock at an average of 90,195 miles. This was down 1,725 miles on February and over 2,125 miles lower than in March 2023.

First-time conversion rates for March reduced by 2.4% to 76.4% overall and sat 6.1% lower than 12 months ago.

Broken down, the best conversion rates were seen in the small panel van sector at 79.2% (down 2.9% on February), whilst a conversion rate of 73.7% (down 2.6%) in the large van sector returned the lowest.

Used vehicles observed for sale in the retail market last month increased by 0.5% to just under 43,350 units. 42.2% of all vehicles on sale were valued at £20,000 or more, while 38.1% 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 15.5% of the overall market, whilst 4.2% were on sale for less than £5,000.

The average age of these vehicles remained steady at 57 months, whilst average mileage reduced by 2.2% over the month to just over 59,750 miles.