New van registrations struggled last year as the market gears up towards electric, writes John Kendall.
AS EXPECTED, due to component supply constraints 2022 was a challenging year for new light commercial vehicle (LCV) sales in the UK, with total registrations for all new vehicles with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) up to 3.5 tonnes reaching 282,139 for the year.
This represents a 20.6% decline compared with 2021 and a 22.9% reduction compared with the pre-pandemic year 2019. New LCV registrations in 2022 were the lowest on record since 2013.
Factor in vehicles in the 3.5t to 6t weight category and this adds a further 4,787 registrations, down 20.1% on 2021. This is a sector traditionally dominated by minibuses since most manufacturers are unable to build 17 seater minibuses on a 3.5 tonne GVW chassis.
