February LCV sales rise 1.8 per cent

This year to date, 36,620 new LCVs have been registered, representing a rise of 5.8 per cent on the first two months of 2018.

Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association which represents commercial vehicle and franchised car retailers across the UK comments: “It was positive to see that demand in the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market was up 1.8 per cent in February, in what is considered to be a typically low volume month due to the upcoming plate change in March.”

Larger light commercials between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes continued to maintain an upward trend and grew by 4.2 per cent in February. A total of 9,348 vehicles were registered. Car-derived vans weighing 2.0 tonnes also saw an increase, up 4.6 per cent. Whilst demand for pick-ups and medium-sized vans experienced declines in registrations, down -2.4 per cent and -4.5 per cent respectively.

Manufacturer wise, Ford led the market at 38.3 per cent market share with its wide range of models, followed by Volkswagen at 11.9 per cent of the market share.

Robinson continues, “The light commercial market is showing encouraging signs of stability, especially considering the challenges being faced by the industry, and it seems set to continue to perform at these levels”