New van registrations falls 29% on 2021

New light commercial vehicle registrations have fallen to 21,597 units in April - a decline of 29.1% compared with last year, which was a record month as the UK came out of lockdown.

Multimodal or van operator? Sign up to membership of RHA Vans here

Registrations of large vans are down 19.1% year-on-year for April, with deliveries of medium-sized vans – the second largest segment by volume – drop by almost half (48.6%).

When taken away from the record growth in April 2021, and compared to pre-pandemic levels, it is still down 12% on 2019 – despite strong demand.

Supply chain pressures locally and globally, including shortages of semiconductors, has hampered deliveries, according to The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, who compile the statistics.

As a result, there has been a downward revision of outlook for 2022 to 328,000 units – a 7.7% fall year-on-year.

Electric segment

The news comes as registrations of electric vans continues to grow, increasing by 53% year-on-year to 919 units – or around one in 24 new vans on the road. But the segment is still some way behind passenger EVs overall, which are now averaging around and above 1 in 10 new vehicles.