The roller coaster ride of new LCV registrations in 2018 is continuing. After two months of falling figures, August saw sales up by 5% compared to last year.
Large vans (2.5 – 3.5 tonnes) and pick-ups led the way, offsetting declines for medium vans (2.0 – 2.5 tonnes) and small vans (under 2.0 tonnes).
It was another good month for commercial 4×4 vehicles, but we’re still only talking 49 units registered. Still, this time last year it was only eight!
Large rigid vans in the 3.5 – 6.0-tonne weight division also had another good month, although these vehicles don’t count towards the overall LCV numbers.
It is important to remember that August is traditionally one of the slowest months of the year, so manufacturers and dealers will be pushing hard to maintain this momentum during the critical new registration month of September.
For the first eight months of the year, the overall LCV market is down by just over 2%. The three van segments are all down on last year, especially small vans, while pick-up trucks are still running slightly up on last year’s results.
Mercedes-Benz on the march
After a poor few months, Mercedes-Benz had a strong month in August. This was thanks largely to the new Sprinter van, which, er… sprinted… to second place in the top ten. In fact, the Sprinter made up about 86% of all LCV registrations for the three-pointed star last month.
This demoted the Ford Transit from second to third, although the mid-size Ford Transit Custom remained in the top spot for approximately the millionth month in a row and Ford sales increased by 13% overall compared to the same month last year.
There was more good news for Ford in the pick-up segment, with the Ranger slotting into fifth place overall and remaining the clear leader in pick-up sales as usual.
It was a good month for Nissan as well, up nearly 21% on last August’s results. Land Rover and LDV also had big increases over last year in terms of percentage growth, but based on much smaller volumes.
Isuzu, Peugeot, Citroën, Vauxhall, Renault, Renault Trucks, Fiat, Toyota and Iveco all saw falls in their LCV registrations in August, so will be hoping to turn things around in September.
Peugeot can at least take comfort from another strong performance in the big 3.5 – 6.0-tonne sector. Mercedes-Benz had a good month as well, as did Iveco. Not so much for Ford, which saw heavy Transit registrations fall by 47% in August.
