Europe Q1 2018: A rare look at the Light Commercial Vehicle market

The Ford Transit Custom is the best-selling LCV in Europe so far in 2018.

* See the Top 10 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 105 models by clicking on the title *

In Europe 27 markets ex-Russia and Turkey, Light Commercial Vehicles are separated from Passenger Cars (unlike in the US) and get very little coverage. Not anymore, as we can share with you today detailed groups, brands and models ranking over the First Quarter of 2018. 517.915 LCVs found a new employer over the period, a 2.2% year-on-year gain. PSA (4%) dominates the groups ranking with 26.1% share, almost one percentage point above its level of a year ago, and distances another French company, Renault-Nissan (+2%) at 20.4%. Ford Motor (+3%) rounds up the podium at 16.4% ahead of the VW Group (12.3%) and FCA (10.8%), with Daimler (8.8%) the only other truly mass LCV maker. Brand-wise, it’s Ford (+3%) that takes the lead, slightly outpacing the market to improve its market share, with Renault (+5%) also up. In fact, only Volkswagen (-3%) and Fiat (-5%) lose ground in the Top 7, with Citroen (+9%) and Peugeot (+7%) the most dynamic. Further down, Mahindra (+120%), Audi (+100%), Ram (+79%), Jeep (+28%), Dacia (+15%) and Iveco (+11%) make themselves noticed.

The Citroen Berlingo is up 13% to snap the 2nd spot overall.

Model-wise, the Ford Transit Custom (-5%) is the best-seller despite losing ground, but is now threatened by the two twin car-derived vans from PSA. Even though their current generation is being replaced, the Citroen Berlingo and Peugeot Partner both gain 13% and two spots to rank #2 and #3 respectively over the period, and should enjoy a particularly strong remainder of 2018 as completely new models hit dealerships. The VW Transporter (-4%) is knocked down two spots to #4 but its deliveries were disturbed by a stop-sale on diesel models at the start of the year so its volume should improve greatly later in the year. The Ford Transit (+15%) and Renault Master (+11%) also shine in the Top 10, while the Toyota Proace (+34%), VW Crafter (+32%), Fiat Talento (+25%) and Dacia Dokker (+23%) are the most impressive further down.

The Ram 1500 is up 106% but remains anecdotal at just 815 sales.

Omni-present in the U.S., South America, Australasia and South Africa, pickup trucks are a lot rarer in Europe but this is changing slowly. Sales doubled between 2010 and 2017 to reach 169.545, and are up 8.7% so far in 2018 to 46.387, the fastest-growing LCV segment on the continent. The Ford Ranger (+14%) is #1, extending its lead over the Toyota Hilux (-13%), Nissan Navara (-14%) and Mitsubishi L200 (-4%) just as the VW Amarok (+7%) and Isuzu D-Max (+29%) gear up. New for 2018, the Mercedes X-Class (#7) and Renault Alaskan (#9) remain shy for now. Notice also the U.S. full-size Ram 1500 more than doubling its sales YoY to… 815, that’s about the same amount in 3 months that is sold in one day in the U.S. The Ford F-Series (157 sales) and Toyota Tundra (5 sales) also surprisingly appear in the European LCV charts.

Full Q1 2018 LCV Top 10 groups, Top 40 brands and Top 105 models vs. Full Q1 2017 figures below.