Ford gifting rivals van-market share

Ford’s deliberate move to balance its sales so that it doesn’t face steep fines under the current ZEV Mandate regulations has seen rival LCV brands more than counter the lost volume.

Over the first six months of 2026, Ford has dropped nearly 11,000 LCV units compared with the same time last year. It’s also seen its market share drop from nearly 36% a year ago to 28.5% now.

However, the overall market is up 1.7% so far this year and June saw an impressive 12.2% climb.

Ford’s drop of 10,797 LCVs is by far the biggest volume fall of any LCV brand. Toyota and Isuzu, both of which were impacted by the changes to double-cab pickup taxation, were second and third in the fastest fallers chart and saw drops of 4,017 and 1,463 respectively. Iveco was the fourth fastest faller, down 713 units.

After that, only four other brands decreased registrations, all of which were far less than 100 units.

Ford’s repositioning due to the ZEV Mandate is gifting rival brands an opportunity to supply those buyers who haven’t been able to source the Ford they want.

Volkswagen is the second-largest single brand with 12.1% market share year-to-date and a volume increase of nearly 4,000 units.

However, the second largest LCV manufacturer is Stellantis. Combining its four van brands – Peugeot, Vauxhall, Citroen and Fiat – means the group has a near 25% market share (less than 4% points off Ford).

With all Stellantis brands in growth mode, it is conceivable that it could overtake Ford as the UK’s largest LVC manufacturer before the end of the year. On a purely mathematical basis, Ford’s decline of 19.3% against Stellantis’ growth of 13.9% means they would swap places in November.