‘Vantastic’ sales indicate a positive economic outlook

LCV (Light Commercial Vehicle) / van sales are up an impressive 42.5 per cent (5,664) compared to July last year (3,974). For the year-to-date, LCV/van sales in Ireland are up 35.3 per cent (22,997). This is always regarded as a very positive indicator that business is thriving in Ireland and the outlook remains bright.

Ford remains as the top LCV brand (22.77% market-share), with Renault in second place (15.39%), and Volkswagen in third place (12.36%) for the year-to-date.

The top 12 selling LCV models so far this year are: 1. Renault Master; 2. Toyota Land Cruiser; 3. Ford Transit; 4. Renault Trafic; 5. Ford Transit Custom; 6. Ford Ranger; 7. Ford Transit Connect; 8. Peugeot Partner Van; 9. VW Caddy; 10. Opel Vivaro; 11. VW Crafter; 12. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.

In body type, vans account for 85.58 per cent, pick-ups (5.22%); crew-cabs (2.02%), tippers (1.31%), and MPVS (1.31%), with all other categories under one per cent this year so far.

As you’d expect, diesel engines dominate the LCV/van market with 95.64 per cent (down just 1.23% on last year) of those registered so far this year. Electric power (at 2.77%, up 0.94% on last year) is ahead of petrol engines (at 1.36%).

It is interesting that automatic transmissions is on the rise for LCVs/vans. Last year the breakdown of all new LCVs/vans registered was 82.43 per cent manual transmission, and 17.57 per cent automatic. So far this year manual is at 77.14 per cent and automatic is up to 22.86 per cent.

HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also showing an increase of 27.6 per cent (374) in comparison to July 2022 (293). For the year-to-date the segment is up 33.4 per cent (1,927) – another good indication of the current strength of the Irish economy.