Commercial van sales in the US are up 4% in the first quarter of 2021, trailing the overall market which is up 12%. As a result, the share of commercial vans of the overall US car market is down to 2.6% of the US car market, from 2.9% in 2020. Small vans are up 13% this quarter, while full-sized vans are up just 2%.
Traditional class leader Ford Transit sees a 25% drop in deliveries, which drops its share of the segment by more than ten percentage points to 26.5%, the lowest since its launch in 2014. Surprisingly, the Chevrolet Express is up 27%, despite being virtually unchanged since 2003. Its sibling model GMC Savana does even better at +40%, allowing it to leapfrog the Nissan NV van to no longer be America’s slowest selling full-sized van. The NV is still up 9%, despite Nissan announcing it will be discontinued after the current model year. The RAM ProMaster is up 14% to maintain its podium spot, just ahead of the Ford E-Series. Best performer in the class is the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter, up 69% thanks to the new generation. The Sprinter is now less than 1,000 sales off the podium, so it might be a tight battle for the #3 spot this year.
In the compact commercial van part of the segment, which accounts for 17.4% of total van sales in the US (up from 16.1% in 2020), Ford’s dominance is also shrinking as the Transit Connect is up just 1% while its closes two rivals show double digit growth. The Nissan NV200 is up 17% and the RAM ProMaster City is up 53%. Altogether, Ford has a 44% share of the commecial van market in the United States with its three models, down from 54.7% in Q1 of 2020 and from 48.1% in all of 2020. The Mercedes-Benz Metris is up 5% and remains a niche player.
US commercial van sales 2021-Q1
| Van segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | Share | |
| 1 | Ford Transit | 27.451 | 36.836 | -25% | 26,5% |
| 2 | Chevrolet Express | 16.877 | 13.309 | 27% | 16,3% |
| 3 | RAM ProMaster | 10.880 | 9.585 | 14% | 10,5% |
| 4 | Ford E-series | 10.573 | 10.098 | 5% | 10,2% |
| 5 | Mercedes-Benz Sprinter | 9.927 | 5.866 | 69% | 9,6% |
| 6 | GMC Savana | 5.847 | 4.182 | 40% | 5,6% |
| 7 | Nissan NV van | 4.074 | 3.728 | 9% | 3,9% |
| 1 | Ford Transit Connect | 7.623 | 7.565 | 1% | 7,3% |
| 2 | Nissan NV200 | 5.539 | 4.740 | 17% | 5,3% |
| 3 | RAM ProMaster City | 3.204 | 2.096 | 53% | 3,1% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz Metris | 1.732 | 1.654 | 5% | 1,7% |
| Segment total | 103.727 | 99.659 | 4% |
Source: Manufacturers.