Vans Update: Surging Sales, Growing Choices
Photo: Chevrolet
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It’s a great year for sales of cargo vans. The National Truck Equipment Association recently revised its 2016 forecast for U.S./Mexico Class 1-3 commercial van sales upward from a previously forecast 7% year-to-year gain up to 10% this year — to be followed by an 8% increase next year.
Perhaps that’s partly because buyers are finding lots more than tires to kick when they check out the latest models.
David Sowers, head of Ram Truck brand marketing, says the Great Recession built pent-up demand, with the average age of vans climbing to 10 years. It now stands at 7 years. “Last year, Class 1-4 vans and chassis sales reached almost 400,000. We expect that to rise by 10 to 15% this year,” Sowers says. “Pent-up demand is being met, and there’s growth in small businesses since 2009 that’s also driving sales. Both fleets and small business owners are buying more vans.”
He says the two largest groups of buyers are delivery and “mobile worksite” operations. Lots more delivery vans are being sold to UPS and FedEx, and Ram has secured a contract for 12,000 units with the U.S. Postal Service.
Ford says total commercial van sales for 2015 were 423,094, including full-size and compact commercial vans, according to Yaroslav Hetman, Ford’s brand manager for Transit, Transit Connect and E-Series. “Year to date through August, the segment is up 16%, with total van sales of 312,705 vs. 268,625 last year.” He says much of that growth is being driven by sales of the full-size Ford Transit, adding that “Ford sold more vans in August 2016 than it has at any other time in history.”
“We are literally selling every van we can build — even with three production shifts and capacity utilization above 100%,” says Joe Langhauser, full-size van product manager for General Motors Fleet. “In …Read the rest of this story
