February 2025 Van Market: A Tale of Two Manufacturers
The UK van market experienced a downturn in February 2025, with overall registrations dropping by 20%. This decline, however, masks a significant contrast in performance between major manufacturers. While Ford Pro enjoyed strong sales, Stellantis brands suffered a substantial collapse.
Stellantis: A Significant Drop
The Stellantis group, encompassing Vauxhall, Peugeot, Citroen, and Fiat, saw a major decrease in sales. Year-to-date, the manufacturer has lost 3,676 commercial vehicle units compared to the same period in 2024.
Despite the overall market decline, the four Stellantis brands all experienced drops that contributed a 31% decrease in sales overall. This poor performance has pushed the group’s market share down to less than 24%, a considerable fall from almost 28% a year ago.
Broker News reported last month that inconsistent offers in the market were leading to mistrust within broker businesses
Ford Pro: Leading the Pack
In stark contrast to Stellantis’s performance, Ford Pro continues to dominate the market. One of the clearest indicators of Ford’s success is the Transit Custom, which was the UK’s best-selling vehicle in February with 2,361 units registered. This put it ahead of the MINI Cooper, the best-selling car, by roughly 300 units.
For comparison, the second best-selling van, the Vauxhall Vivaro, registered 1,331 units last month and didn’t even make it into the overall top 10 vehicle sales chart.
Ford currently holds over 36% of the new van market year-to-date, and is up more than 4%, which translates to roughly 490 units, in a market that’s down 20%.
Electric Van Growth
The drop in overall van sales has made manufacturers focus on registering electric vans due to the failure to hit the government’s 10% mix target in 2024. February saw electric vans take 9.7% of the vehicles registered during the month. However, this is still short of the 16% target for 2025 outlined in the ZEV Mandate.
Other Manufacturers’ Performance
Stellantis isn’t the only company facing hardship. Mercedes and Volkswagen LCV registrations are each down by more than 30% this year, while Toyota has seen a drop of over 35%.
Key Takeaways:
- The van market experienced a 20% decrease overall in February 2025.
- Stellantis brands face a significant sales decline.
- Ford Pro continues to excel.
- Electric van registrations are growing but still short of targets.
