Mathilde Carlier
Research Expert covering transportation and logistics
Light Goods Vehicles in the United Kingdom - Statistics & Facts
The light goods vehicle market in the United Kingdom has been rattled by the pandemic and global chip shortage, as well as by the changes resulting from Brexit. Production of commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom hiked up in 2021, rising by some 11.3 percent year-over-year to some 73,600 units. This output increase was not enough to offset the drop recorded at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, and 2021 production was close to six percent under the UK's 2019 production. Just over 51 percent of UK-produced commercial vehicles were exported. However, the share of exports decreased in 2021, partly due to new rules for trade with the European Union—one of the UK's main trade partners, which imported around 834 million euros worth of commercial vehicles and buses from the UK in 2021.
Light Goods Vehicle Lead the Commercial Vehicle Market
Light goods vehicles represent an important part of the goods vehicle market in the United Kingdom. As of 2020, there were roughly 4.4 million registered light goods vehicles in Great Britain—a steady increase since 2005. This registration volume represented around 89.7 percent of Great Britain's commercial vehicle fleet. England had the highest number of licensed light trucks out of all the regions, with its South East region seeing the most registrations at just under 758,700. On average, vehicles in the United Kingdom fleet were close to nine years old, with the largest share of vehicles being between six and 13 years of age. The most common type of commercial vehicle in 2021 was the box van. Nearly 55 percent of this box van figure were box vans weighing below 7.5 metric tons, classifying them as light goods vehicles. The market is also following the automotive industry's shift towards new energy vehicles, with nearly four percent of new light commercial vehicle sales in the UK being alternative fuel vehicles. Battery-electric was the most popular electric light goods vehicle type in 2021.Ford Dominates the Light Goods Vehicle Sales
In 2021, the Ford Transit Custom was the best-selling light goods vehicle model in the United Kingdom, followed by the Ford Transit. The volume of cumulative licenses for the Ford Transit in Great Britain reached over one million units that year, and registrations have steadily grown since 2000. This popularity helped make Ford the best-selling light commercial vehicle brand in the UK in 2021. Ford's 2021 new registrations amounted to almost 120,800 units, more than three times the sales volume of Volkswagen, which was second in the ranking. In contrast, Volkswagen was the leading car company in the country in 2021, reporting market shares of close to nine percent.
