Ford, VW, Stellantis benefit from EV shift in van market

Electric van registrations in Europe soared by 74 percent in the first five months of the year as large delivery companies and other businesses began honoring commitments to reduce their carbon footprints.

Sales of electric vans stood at 49,512 to the end of May, figures from market research Dataforce show, overtaking gasoline to become the second most popular propulsion system for vans after diesel.

The Ford E-Transit large van was the biggest seller at 4,849, followed by the Volkswagen ID Buzz midsize van and another midsize van, the Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro-e (see table, below).

The biggest electric van brand was Peugeot in the first five months with 6,837 sold, followed by Opel/Vauxhall and Citroen, giving Stellantis the undisputed lead.

However, despite the sales surge, electric vans accounted for just 7 percent of the total van registrations for the period. Electric cars on the other hand accounted for 14 percent of total car sales across Europe for the same period, according to data from European automaker lobby group ACEA. Both cars and vans have the same 2035 deadline to move to zero-emission sales within the European Union, which means vans are lagging.

Electric van sales are being driven by companies working to their own, stricter carbon neutrality targets.

"It's generally home-delivery companies looking to go green who are ordering these electric vans," Dataforce Senior Automotive Analyst Benjamin Kibies said.

Those companies include Deutsche Post's DHL Group, which in December announced it had ordered 2,000 Ford E-Transits for delivery by the end of 2023. The company is looking to make 60 percent of its delivery fleet electric by 2030.

In the UK, delivery company the Royal Mail said in February it had deployed its 4,000th electric delivery van. The company said it had ordered 1,000 Peugeot e-Expert and Peugeot e-Partner vans in August last year.

Also in the UK, home energy supplier British Gas said it had ordered 3,000 Vauxhall Vivaro-e vans with the aim of electrifying its fleet completely by 2025.

In France meanwhile delivery company La Poste claims to have one of the largest electric delivery fleets globally, and was an early purchaser of Renault's electric Kangoo.

Overall, France was the biggest market for electric vans in the first five months with 10,568 sales, led by the Kangoo ZE, Dataforce figures show.

The UK was second with 8,355, topped by the Vauxhall Vivaro-e, while Germany was third with 6,691. The Mercedes eVito was the top-selling electric van in Germany over the period.

Incentives drive sales in many markets. In France, for example, van buyers can claim up to 40 percent of the gross price of electric light commercial vehicle below 3.5 metric tons to a limit of 6,000 euros if purchased privately and 4,000 euros for businesses.

In the UK a discount of 5,000 pounds (5,830 euros) is available for large vans and 2,500 pounds for small vans.

Stellantis' head start in electric vans meant it captured almost half of all sales in the first five months at 24,296. That volume include the Proace and smaller Proace City that Stellantis builds for Toyota.

However, next year Ford, the biggest LCV brand overall in Europe over the first five months, will follow its E-Transit with the E-Transit Custom midsize van built in Turkey.

The company is also expected to build a version of the van for Volkswagen as part of their partnership to jointly produce 8 million commercial vehicles together, including the Ford Ranger and VW Amarok pickups.

Ford will also launch the E-Transit Courier next year. The compact van is built at Ford's plant in Craiova, Romania.

Despite predictions that startups would upset traditional automakers in the electric van space, the legacy brands occupied nine of the top 10 slots in the first five months, according to Dataforce figures. Only Maxus, owned by China's SAIC, was able to challenge them to take ninth place with 2,880 sales.

StreetScooter, started by DHL Group, saw sales of its electric vans slip to just 70 following its purchase by B-On.

Mercedes meanwhile put on hold its planned cooperation with Rivian to build the U.S. brand's electric vans in Europe.

Earlier this week, delivery company Amazon said it had begun importing Rivian vans for use initially in parts of Germany.

Across all vans Mercedes-Benz took the No. 1 spot after five months with the Sprinter at 43,936 sales, overtaking both the Ford Transit Custom and Ford Transit. The Renault Master was fourth and VW Transporter fifth. Ford was the overall best-selling van brand with 131,832 sales, ahead of Renault at 110,393, after five months.
 

Overall van sales stood at 747,962 through May, up 9.5 percent on the same period last year. France was the biggest market with 146,299, followed by the UK at 136,104 and Germany with 102,156.

Mercedes' success with the Sprinter underlines the brand's recent pledge to continue with its van range, despite moving its car brand more upmarket. The move was a "hedge" against volatility in the car market, CEO Ola Kallenius told investors in May.

Mercedes is one of the few brands going it alone with medium and large vans. The German company will switch to the new VAN.EA electric platform starting in 2026. Mercedes currently outsources production of the Citan compact van to Renault.

Pickups, which are often sold as commercial vehicles rather than passenger cars in Europe, saw sales grow 11 percent in the first five months to 53,647 after the launch of the new Ford Ranger, the biggest selling model ahead of the Toyota Hilux. The Ranger accounted for just under half of all pickup sales at 24,669.

Model variety has sharply declined in recent years after the exit of the Nissan Navara, Mitsubishi L200, Renault Alaskan and Mercedes X-Class.

Newcomers include the Chinese Maxus T90, the first electric pickup, as well as the double-cab version of the Ineos Grenadier, which is inspired by the previous-generation Land Rover Defender.

Ford also plans to sell a limited number of the F-150 Lightning electric full-size pickups in Europe, including in Norway.

The UK is by far the largest market for pickups in Europe, accounting for 52 percent of the total in the first five months. Models such as the double-cab Ranger pickup are seen more as lifestyle vehicles in the country, bringing it more in line with the U.S. in that respect.

Cars converted into vans remain popular in France and Italy, in particular, with 52,136 sold in the first five months.

The Renault Clio Van was the biggest seller in the period with 5,961, followed by the Citroen C3 and the Suzuki Jimny. France was the biggest market at 22,233, followed by Italy at 14,955. The success of the Jimny van followed Suzuki's decision to sell the popular but high-emission small off-roader as a van only. Also popular was the fifth-placed van version of the new-generation Land Rover Defender off-roader, with 3,030 sold.