New van sales rise for seventh consecutive month: the UK LCV market keeps grinding higher
The UK’s new van market has now posted seven straight months of growth, a run that would have sounded fanciful not so long ago. In October 2026, registrations climbed 11.4% year on year to 25,510 vans, pickups and 4x4s, according to the SMMT. It’s not exactly fireworks, but it is progress — and in a market that lives and dies by business confidence, progress counts. (smmt.co.uk)
Year to date, the market has reached 276,885 registrations, up 4.8% versus the same point in 2025. That leaves the sector broadly on course for growth in 2026, with the SMMT still expecting the full-year market to finish at around 329,000 units, up 4.2% on last year. (smmt.co.uk)
The story behind the headline is straightforward enough: buyers want bigger vans, pickups are still in the doldrums, and electric vans are improving — just not nearly fast enough to satisfy the government’s mandate. (smmt.co.uk)
Big vans are doing the heavy lifting
If October proved anything, it’s that the British van market is increasingly a large-van market. Vehicles in the 2.5- to 3.5-tonne bracket accounted for 18,560 registrations in the month, up 12.9% and representing 72.8% of the entire light commercial vehicle market. Medium vans also had a decent month, rising 14.3% to 3,825 units. By contrast, the smallest vans continued to drift backwards, down 11.7% to just 462 registrations. (smmt.co.uk)
That pattern is even clearer across the year. Large vans have totalled 199,761 registrations so far in 2026, up 13.9%, while medium vans are up 5.5% to 45,833. Small vans, meanwhile, have fallen 19.3% to 6,234 units. In other words: if you build a proper workhorse, Britain still wants it. (smmt.co.uk)
Pickups are still paying the price
The pickup market remains the sector’s cautionary tale. October registrations fell 17.7% to 1,764 units, and the year-to-date picture is far uglier: just 14,936 pickups have been registered in 2026, down 52.9% from the same point last year. (smmt.co.uk)
The trigger, of course, is taxation. Double-cab pickups are now generally treated as cars for benefit-in-kind and capital allowance purposes, which has stripped away much of the company-vehicle appeal that once made them such an easy sell. The market has not merely softened; it has been kneecapped. (smmt.co.uk)
Not all of the off-road market is suffering, though. The separate 4×4 category more than doubled in October, rising 104.3% to 899 units, and is up 70.4% year to date at 10,121 registrations. But even that surge is nowhere near enough to compensate for the collapse in pickups. (smmt.co.uk)
Electric vans are growing — but the target is still a long way off
Battery-electric vans had their best October ever, with registrations jumping 58.0% to 3,369 units. That lifted their market share to 12.9% for the month, up from 9.2% a year earlier. It’s a proper step forward, and another sign that operators are starting to give zero-emission vans a fair hearing. (smmt.co.uk)
But — and this is the bit that matters — the market is still miles off the government’s Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate. The target for 2026 is 24% zero-emission van sales, while the SMMT’s latest forecast expects battery-electric vans to reach only 10.4% across the full year. That’s not just short; that’s a chasm. The trade body also expects shares of 14.9% in 2027 and 18.8% in 2028, both still well below the mandated trajectories. (smmt.co.uk)
The SMMT says the industry has introduced more than 40 zero-emission van models and that grants and depot-charging support have helped, but it also argues that manufacturers are being forced to discount heavily to keep the market moving and avoid compliance penalties. In its view, the mandate needs a serious rethink — not cosmetic adjustments — alongside better incentives, more public charging and quicker grid connections for depot installations. (smmt.co.uk)
Diesel still rules the roost
For all the electric progress, diesel remains the kingpin. In October, diesel registrations climbed 7.3% to 20,735 units and accounted for 79.5% of the market covered by the powertrain data. Battery-electric models reached 3,369 units, while all other powertrains combined came to 1,994 registrations. (smmt.co.uk)
Across January to October, diesel still made up 82.1% of the relevant market at 230,151 registrations. Electric vans rose 26.7% to 30,728 units, lifting their share to 11.0% year to date. That’s solid momentum — just not nearly enough momentum. (smmt.co.uk)
The van chart is still Ford territory
If you wanted a single symbol of UK van supremacy, you’d probably pick the Ford Transit Custom. In October it topped the chart again with 2,963 registrations, comfortably ahead of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter on 2,020 and the Ford Transit on 1,863. Volkswagen’s Transporter and Crafter rounded out the top five. (smmt.co.uk)
The year-to-date picture is even more emphatic. The Transit Custom has accumulated 42,326 registrations in 2026, giving it a commanding lead. The larger Transit sits second on 19,858, followed by the Sprinter on 16,317, the Transporter on 14,919 and the Peugeot Partner on 13,365. Ford’s two Transits together have reached 62,184 registrations — a hefty chunk of the market by any measure. (smmt.co.uk)
That dominance matters because it says something about where the market is heading. Britain’s van buyers are still gravitating towards capable, load-lugging, medium-to-large vans with decent badge strength and fleet-friendly running costs. The Transit Custom is simply the best answer to that brief — and until somebody else comes up with a better one, it is likely to stay that way. (smmt.co.uk)
A market recovering — but not comfortably
So yes, the UK van market is up, and yes, seven months of growth is a decent achievement. But beneath the headline, the picture is more complicated. Large vans are carrying the sector. Pickups have been hammered by tax changes. Electric van demand is rising, but not at the pace required by policy. And diesel, despite everything, still does the heavy lifting. (smmt.co.uk)
The SMMT’s message is clear: buyer confidence has improved, but the transition to zero-emission vans will not happen by enthusiasm alone. Without a more realistic mandate, stronger support and proper charging infrastructure, the industry risks being pushed into an expensive corner. For now, though, the numbers at least show a sector moving in the right direction — even if it’s doing so with one foot on the brake. (smmt.co.uk)
