Sales of Small Cargo Vans in the US rose by 11% in Q1 2016 to 22,585 vehicles, a faster rate of growth than the market overall, but considerably slower than the 28% recorded by the Large Cargo Van segment. In fact, there is a sense that the smaller segment may be loosing out the short term battle, as customers take advantage of lower fuel costs and move to the new, and super-popular Ford Transit.
Highlights in Q1 2016:
- Ford Transit Connect lost 11% of its sales compared to Q1 2015, though it still sold nearly twice as many units as the second-placed Nissan NV200 (sales up 38%)
- Ram ProMaster City technically registered a 529% growth in sales compared to Q1 2015, but that was the first quarter it was available on the market; more telling is the fact that it lost 20% of sales compared to Q4 2015, at the same time as the NV200 gained 22%
- What makes matters even worse for Ram is that this fall in ProMaster City‘s sales comes at the same time as sales of the Cargo Van have finally ceased
- Chevy City Express gained sales at an almost identical pace as the car it’s based on (Nissan NV200), though it is destined to remain in last place for a while now that the Ram Cargo Van is no longer on sale