In 2011 new van sales held up well and this year new car sales are doing fine. However, in April the registration of new vans dropped by almost 20% that is the fourth month in a row there has been a reduction.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) announced that in April new van registrations fell by 19.8 per cent with only 14,508 van registrations recorded.

The rolling twelve months figure through to April 2012 shows van registrations of 245,927 that is an increase of only 1.1 per cent. Figures for the first four months of 2012 reveal registrations of 76,196 which is a drop of 15.7 per cent

In April the only sector that did not see a drop in registrations for the first four months of 2012 was the 4 x 4 utility sector with an increase of 3.1 per cent although for the month of April a drop of 3.8% was seen.

Paul Everitt, Chief Executive of The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders is of the opinion that this year’s van market has been affected by the good performance in 2011 stating: “The relative strength of the 2011 van market continued to dent 2012 performance with the ‘up to 3.5t’ market dropping 19.8 per cent in the month.”

He felt that the new vans on display at the CV show last month are important to the industry’s future growth saying: “Last month’s CV Show saw the launch of a host of new sophisticated and efficient vehicles that will be important to the sector’s performance through the rest of 2012 and beyond.”

The market leader in April, with registrations amounting to 24 per cent, was Ford with its tried and trusted Transit. In second place was Volkswagen with 14 per cent and in third place was Vauxhall with 13.4 per cent.

Let us hope that these figures are turned around in the coming months and for those business owners that are considering the purchase of a new van why not obtain a quote for van insurance via our site to see if you can save some money by trying to get cheap van insurance.

Source of the above figures: The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT)