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League tables
Page 60
Page 61
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Having reached the point where it's all downhill to Christmas, it's time for our mid-term look at the UK li ht CV market.
Once again. the UK's light commercial vehicle market is defying the predictions and looks set to produce another record year. A bumper crop of new models in the large panel van and pickup sectors take much of the credit,but read on to discover all the winners and losers so far in 2006.
Hatch and car-derived vans
The last remaining van of its type. the Vauxhall Astravan, has recovered from its slowdown in the second half of 2005, rebuilding its market share to the right side of 50`)/0.The battle for second place has changed its nature since Suzuki threw in the Carry's towel, leaving the Fiesta and Corsavan to slug it out. Despite being close to replacement, the Vauxhall has narrowed the gap from nearly 1,000 in 2005 to less than 50 in the first half of this year.The Citroen Xsara Enterprise bowed out gracefully, with about 260 examples having been sold; about the same as the more ignominiously departed Rover 25 and MG Express twins. Peugeot's 206 is still the next contender, although it remains to be seen if the Ryton backlash will have a negative effect for the rest of this year.There's an improved market share for the Daihatsu Extol,but the remaining tiddlers are barely treading water with the Punto looking particular vulnerable.
High-cube vans
Still dominating the sector is the FordTransit Connect; its market share has recovered to midway between the 29.5% at the end of 2005 and the 33.9% of this time last year. Much of this improvement has come at the expense of its chief rival, the Combo-Vauxhall seems to have taken its eye off the ball.The Citroen Berl ingo has strengthened its third spot, hut the Renault Kangoo has slid down below the Peugeot Partner and the VW Caddy, both of which have expanded their market share.Also making steady progress is the often overlooked Fiat DoblO.Barring a few stragglers. this review is the last to feature that '70s survivor, the Citroen C15, with the demands of the Euro-4 generation finally proving too much.
Medium vans
The Vauxhall Vivaro has strengthened its hold on the sector.The Vivaro and its Renault and Nissan stablemates, in third and eighth places, are close to accounting for half the sales in the medium van market.The second-placed model, the Volkswagen Transporter, has also made a slight improvement, while the M-B Vito has fallen back by a similar amount.
The mini-Sevel trio from Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen are showing their age with steadily declining sales. Also struggling and looking ready fora freshen-up is Toyota's lightweight but unfashionable Hiace. Large vans The appearance of new model ranges has seen the sector's top two, the Ford Transit and Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, increase their respective market shares.The Fiat Ducato's revival it jumped from sixth to fourth place six months ago has continued, leap-frogging its Iveco cousin to claim another rung.
Also on the rise is the LDV Maxus, overtaking the outgoing VW LT and the Citroen and Peugeot twins into sixth spot. The three Japanese contenders from Nissan, Mitsubishi Fuso and Toyota failed to reach 1,000 units between them.
Pickups At 21,061 units in six months,just over 60% of the total sales for 2005 , the pickup sector is on course for another boom year. The big gains, predictably, are from the newer models, with Mitsubishi's L200 continuing to take the top honours. It's interesting to note that one model. the Warrior double-cab, accounts for more than half of L200 sales.With sales now polarising on the Navara (only 135 old-model Pickups hit the streets) Nissan is firmly in second place. Ford's ageing Ranger is still third but with a much-reduced share, although when the new generation begins to leave the showroom, expect that to pick up again.
The new.lbyota Hilux is halfway back to recovering the market share it lost during the model renewal, but the Isuzu Rodeo and Mazda B2500 have both dipped severely. At least Mazda has a new model, the BT-50, on the horizon.
Overall picture In the first half of 2006 the overall light CV market is looking healthy, with total sales running at 52.1 % of 2005's total. Pickups are at 60.3%, while both the large and medium sectors are running at around 54%. However, the smaller models aren't doing so well, with hatchvans at 45.6% and high-cubes at 49.7%.
Looking at individual marques, market leader Ford has upped its share from 27.2% to 28.4% this year, while chief competitor Vauxhall has slipped from 16.8% to 16.3%.
Supply issues relating to the changeover to the new version of the Sprinter, its biggest seller, have caused Mercedes take a hefty slide down the rankings to end up only just ahead of Peugeot and Nissan, both of which are on the up.The other major big name backslider is Renault, losing 0.8% of share.
Big surprise, though, is Volkswagen, breaking free of the third-spot gridlock to claim the position for itself. •