🕒 Article read time: 2 minutes
New van market up by a quarter year on year
The UK’s new light commercial vehicle (LCV) market received a welcome boost in January, with a rise in registrations of more than a quarter (25.8%), according to the latest figures published earlier this week (6 February 2023) by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
This marks the first month of growth in LCV registrations since the September plate change last year.
Registrations increased across all weight classes above two tonnes, with deliveries of the most popular vans weighing between 2.5 and 3.5 tonnes rising by more than a third (34.1%), and vans weighing between 2.0 and 2.5 tonnes up by 3.3%. Registrations of small vans weighing up to 2.0 tonnes bucked the trend by falling by more than a fifth (22.6%) over the month.
January also saw deliveries of battery electric vans (BEVs) up by more than half (53.5%) for the month to 993 units, accounting for one in 22 vans joining UK roads. SMMT has forecast this trend to continue throughout the year, with the latest market outlook anticipating 2023 BEV uptake to rise by almost two-thirds (64.5%) to some 28,000 units.
Denise Beedell, Senior Policy Manager, Logistics UK, said: “After seeing falls in the final quarter of 2022, it is encouraging to see green shoots return to the UK’s new van market in January.
“While cautious about reading too much into a single month’s figures, the conditions appear favourable for the LCV sector to buck wider economic trends, with manufacturers making considerable investments in the development of battery electric vans, offering operators a far wider choice of products. However, the development of vehicles must go hand in hand with the development of the required charging infrastructure for the EV revolution to really take wing.”
*www.logistics.org.uk/van
Published On: 09/02/2023 16:00:09
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