- -8.3% drop in new pick-up registrations to 37,582 units – likely to fall significantly further in 2025 following decision to tax double-cabs as cars for BIK and capital allowances purposes from April 2025
- Overall light commercial vehicle market rose by 3.0% to surpass 350,000 registrations in 2024
- New BEV registration volumes rose by 3.3% to 22,155 units, but the share of the overall market was 6.3% – the same as in 2023
- Ford continues to dominate the commercial vehicle sector
Photo credit: Brandon Woyshnis / Shutterstock.com
COMMERCIAL vehicle registrations for 2024 ended the year 3% up on 2023. However, the final month of registrations saw a significant drop off in sales of double-cab pickups and 4x4s ahead of tax changes in April that will see double-cab commercials classed as cars for company car tax.
Demand for 4×4 LCVs was down nearly 55%, while pickups were down 28% in December. For the year, the two sectors were down 9.7% and 8.3%, respectively.
While several brands have left the pickup market in recent years – Nissan, Mitsubishi and Mercedes for example – the third best-selling LCV was the Ford Ranger. And in December the Isuzu D-Max took fourth place in the best-sellers’ list.
The Ranger was only outsold in 2024 by sister commercial vehicles the Ford Transit Custom and the full size Transit.
Ford dominates commercials
Unlike its car registrations – see Ford: 2024 is worst car sales year for decades – Ford dominated the commercial vehicle market in 2024. The brand was up more than 9% in 2024 and took more than 30% of new LCV registrations. In fact, its unit increase for the year of 9,676 accounted for 93% of the market improvement – which was up 10,379 vans.
With 112,702 LCVs sold in 2024, plus a further 3,375 vans above 3.5t, Ford sold more commercial vehicles than it did cars. The Transit and Transit Custom were the brand’s third and second best selling vehicles behind the Ford Puma.
Vauxhall also had a great year in commercial vehicles unlike its car performance. Vauxhall was up 5% in 2024 with a unit rise of 1,727 vans.
At the other end of the figures, Toyota and Citroen were similarly down between 4,000-5,000 vans in 2024.
Top 5 brands by unit increase YTD
Bottom 5 brands by unit decrease YTD
1 Ford +9,676
2 Mercedes +3,680
3 Volkswagen +2,756
4 Vauxhall +1,727
5 Iveco +1,671
5 Ineos -501
4 Renault Trucks -600
3 Isuzu Trucks -823
2 Toyota -4,383
1 Citroen -4,927
Electric vans flatline
Electric vans failed to take off in 2024 despite a significant increase in the number of models on the market. While the 2024 unit number of electric vans just managed to surpass 2023 the percentage mix of EVs fell from 5.9% in 2023 to 5.8% in 2024; a figure well short of the ZEV Mandated 10% for LCVs.
The SMMT hit out at the lack of van-dedicated charging points, with a spokesperson commenting that this undermined both fleet confidence and the commercial viability of switching to electric vans.
Electric van demand is expected to increase by more than 85%, according to the SMMT. However, this would mean a share of just 10.6%, someway short of the 2025 target of 16% under the ZEV Mandate.
Read our new van market analysis of November 2024 registrations
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Tristan Young is an award winning journalist with more than 25 years’ experience reporting on the automotive industry focussing predominantly on fleet and retail. As a self-confessed petrol-head, Tristan has a weakness for car classifieds. When he’s not writing about the automotive industry, he can usually be found outdoors with a small pack of border collies.
