Commercial van sales in the US are down 8% in 2021, trailing the overall market which is up 3%. As a result, the share of commercial vans of the overall US car market is down to 2.6%, from 2.9% in 2020. After Q3, sales of commercial vans were still up on the year before, but in Q4 deliveries were down 34% in an overall market down 21%. Small vans are down 5% while full-sized vans are down 8%.
Traditional class leader Ford Transit sees a 24% drop in deliveries and drops below the 100,000 mark for the first time since its launch. It was down 45% in Q4 and its full-year share of the class is down 6.6 percentage points to 31.4%. The RAM ProMaster is up 25% to its highest sales and share since it was introduced in North America, at 20% share. The old-timer Chevrolet Express finished 2021 with a 57% drop in deliveries in Q4, which led to a 20% decline for the year, to just 44,300 units. This is a new record low for the nameplate and barely enough to finish the year on the podium, as the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is up 4% and less than 800 deliveries behind the Express. Even the other old-timer Ford E-Series outsold the Express in Q4 and finishes the year stable, also at record-low levels. The only good news coming from the old-style vans is the GMC Savana which is surprisingly up 17% on last year, thanks to a 37% jump in Q4. Production of the Nissan NV ended in 2021 and it dropped to nearly zero in Q4, leading to a 25% decline for the year.
In the compact commercial van part of the segment, which accounts for 17.6% of total van sales in the US (up from 17% in 2020), we see similar trends as with large vans. For one, Ford’s dominance is also shrinking as the Transit Connect is down 25% and loses over 10 percentage points of share while RAM is making great inroads. The ProMaster City is up 40% to nearly the level it enjoyed in 2016 and 2017 but at a much higher share of the small van class at 21.5%. Thirdly, sales of the Nissan NV200 have come to all but a stop, with just 440 deliveries in Q4 as the model is pulled from the US market. It’s still up 1%, showing how stable sales of the little Nissan van have been: between 17,300 and 18,600 for seven straight years. The Mercedes-Benz Metris is up 9% to its highest sales since it was launched in the US in 2016.
US commercial van sales 2021
| Van segment | 2021 | 2020 | Change | 2021 Share | 2020 Share | 2021-Q4 | 2020-Q4 | Change | |
| 1 | Ford Transit | 99.745 | 131.556 | -24% | 31,4% | 38,0% | 20.946 | 37.886 | -45% |
| 2 | Ram ProMaster | 63.361 | 50.556 | 25% | 20,0% | 14,6% | 14.184 | 17.060 | -17% |
| 3 | Chevrolet Express | 44.355 | 55.131 | -20% | 14,0% | 15,9% | 7.766 | 17.941 | -57% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz Sprinter | 43.574 | 41.930 | 4% | 13,7% | 12,1% | 12.721 | 14.988 | -15% |
| 5 | Ford E-series | 37.122 | 37.001 | 0% | 11,7% | 10,7% | 10.655 | 11.815 | -10% |
| 6 | GMC Savana | 17.744 | 15.108 | 17% | 5,6% | 4,4% | 4.238 | 3.099 | 37% |
| 7 | Nissan NV van | 11.372 | 15.247 | -25% | 3,6% | 4,4% | 75 | 4.871 | -98% |
| 8 | Ford Transit Connect | 26.112 | 34.596 | -25% | 38,4% | 48,6% | 6.491 | 9.355 | -31% |
| 9 | Nissan NV200 | 17.359 | 17.126 | 1% | 25,5% | 24,1% | 440 | 4.374 | -90% |
| 10 | Ram ProMaster City | 14.579 | 10.409 | 40% | 21,5% | 14,6% | 3.118 | 2.971 | 5% |
| 11 | Mercedes-Benz Metris | 9.898 | 9.069 | 9% | 14,6% | 12,7% | 2.984 | 2.240 | 33% |
| Segment total | 385.221 | 417.729 | -8% | 83.618 | 126.600 | -34% |
Source: Manufacturers.