Following a 3% fall in sales year-on-year in March, the new light commercial vehicle market recorded a promising 7% registrations uptick in April, according to numbers published this morning by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
With close to 22,000 new LCVs joining the UK road network last month – roughly 1,500 more registrations than April 2025 – this van market growth was driven by the large van (2.5 to 3.5 tonnes) segment, with sales increasing by 29% in this largest LCV category. 4×4 registrations were also up a significant 82% when compared to April last year.
Registrations in other categories weren’t as encouraging. Sales totals declined across the small van (under two tonnes) and medium van (two to 2.5 tonnes) categories, down by 14% and 20% respectively. Pickup registrations fell to another slump – the 11th monthly sales decline in the last year – with sales totals down 57% in April.
After shrinking by 16% year-on-year in March, the electric van (BEV) market bounced back with a 45% increase in EV demand in April, likely prompting a collective sigh of relief from LCV manufacturers as they try to meet the government’s BEV sales target which has been raised to 24% market share for 2026, up from 16% last year.
Good month, bad month
While the overall market grew by 7% in April, it wasn’t the same story for everyone. Some brands will be celebrating a strong performance than others.
Those brands of note are Mercedes-Benz, Renault and Land Rover – which saw registrations grow by 539%, 46% and 72% respectively. Other above average performers include Dacia, Fiat, Maxus, Renault Trucks, KGM, Ineos and Fuso. These brands outperformed the overall LCV market by at least 10%.
Meanwhile, things were not as positive for Vauxhall, Toyota, Maxus, Iveco, Isuzu, and Isuzu Trucks. All of these brands underachieved against the overall market by at least 10%.
The following brands were about where you’d expect them to be: Ford, Peugeot, Kia, Citroën, Nissan, MAN, Farizon and GWM. All of these brands had results that were within +/- 10% of the overall market.
A one horse race
To pretty much no-one’s surprise, the Ford Transit Custom took the sales top spot in April – as it did in January, February, March and literally every month of 2025.
That said, there are a few changes at the top. Beyond the larger Ford Transit snatching a predictable second place, last month’s best-of-the-rest award goes to the Mercedes-Benz, which outsold the Renault Trafic and Peugeot Partner which finished fourth and fifth respectively.
In the annual table, the Vauxhall Vivaro moves up to third, as declining pick-up sales see the Ford Ranger drop to eighth.
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