The passenger van segment in Europe is down by 26% in 2020 to just over 367,000 sales. Small passenger vans account for 56% of these with sales down 29% and midsized passenger vans for the remaining 44% as this subsegment loses 22% of its sales so far this year.
The Volkswagen Transporter T6 and its luxury derivative Multivan stay ahead of the midsized passenger van segment, despite sales down 27% and a declining share. They now hold 29.6% of the segment but stay ahead of the combination of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class and Vito Tourer, which total 41,930 sales for a share up to 25.9% with sales down 23%. Mercedes-Benz launched an electric version of the V-Class called EQV this year. The PSA-Toyota quadruplets also will become available in EV versions. In 2020 they finish in third place with a combined 33,800 sales, up 1% for a share of 20.9%. The latest addition Opel/Vauxhall Zafira Life is now the best seller of the four, ahead of the Toyota Proace Verso, the Peugeot Traveller/Expert and Citroën Spacetourer/Jumpy. A Fiat version is also planned to replace the Renault-based Talento. The current Talento and its original Renault Trafic and the third clone Nissan NV300 are down 39% to 17,000 sales as they lost the Opel Vivaro version. As a result the Ford Tourneo Custom outsold the Trafic and co. and is in 3rd place when comparing nameplates separately, with 20,550 sales, down 11%. The Hyundai H1 remains a niche player with fewer than 600 sales this year.
2020 midsized passenger van sales Europe
| Midsized passenger van segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q4 | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Transporter / Multivan | 47.817 | 65.663 | -27% | 29,6% | 31,6% | 13.852 |
| 2 | Mercedes-Benz V-Class | 24.165 | 31.342 | -23% | 14,9% | 15,1% | 6.433 |
| 3 | Ford Tourneo Custom | 20.555 | 23.067 | -11% | 12,7% | 11,1% | 6.473 |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer | 17.765 | 23.436 | -24% | 11,0% | 11,3% | 4.622 |
| 5 | Renault Trafic Passenger | 11.870 | 14.389 | -18% | 7,3% | 6,9% | 3.897 |
| 6 | Opel/Vauxhall Zafira Life | 9.696 | 0 | New | 6,0% | 0,0% | 3.313 |
| 7 | Toyota Proace Verso | 9.270 | 10.947 | -15% | 5,7% | 5,3% | 2.669 |
| 8 | Peugeot Traveller | 8.312 | 11.359 | -27% | 5,1% | 5,5% | 2.425 |
| 9 | Citroën Spacetourer | 6.548 | 11.188 | -41% | 4,0% | 5,4% | 2.138 |
| 10 | Fiat Talento | 2.536 | 5.235 | -52% | 1,6% | 2,5% | 1.028 |
| 11 | Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro Tour | 1.489 | 7.484 | -80% | 0,9% | 3,6% | 509 |
| 12 | Nissan NV300 | 1.189 | 990 | 20% | 0,7% | 0,5% | 351 |
| 13 | Hyundai H1 / Starex | 596 | 2.433 | -76% | 0,4% | 1,2% | 68 |
| Segment total | 161.808 | 207.533 | -22% |
Small Passenger Van segment
Sales of small passenger vans are down 28% and the Volkswagen Caddy is still the leader when looking at individual nameplates, slightly improving its share to just over 20.4% thanks to sales down 26%. Its nearest three rivals all perform better than the Caddy, and the Peugeot Rifter, Citroën Berlingo and Opel/Vauxhall Combo triplets easily manage to be the best seller combined, and with the addition of the fourth sibling Toyota Proace City Verso, PSA-Toyota now holds a commanding 48% share of the class, up from 38.5% in the same period last year. It’s not sure whether a Fiat version is planned as well, but it would make sense. For sure the Rifter and co will become available with electric powertrains. Renault has just revealed the next generation of its compact van and it will become a bit confusing here. There will be a Kangoo that will again have a Mercedes-Benz clone named Citan, both will be available in passenger van versions and MPV versions, the latter of which Mercedes will name the T-Class, in a similar fashion as the Vito Tourer and V-Class. A Nissan NV250 version is planned too, as well as electric versions of the Kangoo and NV250. But Renault will also launch a more budget-friendly version of the Kangoo, named Express, to replace the Dacia Dokker. The Express make not come to Europe in passenger van version, though. In the meantime, Kangoo/Citan sales are down 34% while Dokker sales are down 24%. Ford is struggling in this segment this year, with the Tourneo Connect down 34% and the Tourneo Courier down 70%.
2020 small passenger van sales Europe
| Small passenger van segment | 2020 | 2019 | Change | 2020 share | 2019 share | 2020-Q4 | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Caddy Life | 41.855 | 56.546 | -26% | 20,4% | 19,7% | 7.451 |
| 2 | Peugeot Rifter | 41.714 | 52.175 | -20% | 20,3% | 18,2% | 12.579 |
| 3 | Citroën Berlingo Multispace | 35.197 | 45.177 | -22% | 17,1% | 15,7% | 10.140 |
| 4 | Dacia Dokker | 32.603 | 42.785 | -24% | 15,9% | 14,9% | 10.750 |
| 5 | Opel/Vauxhall Combo Tour | 13.176 | 13.203 | 0% | 6,4% | 4,6% | 3.187 |
| 6 | Ford Tourneo Connect | 9.648 | 14.577 | -34% | 4,7% | 5,1% | 2.366 |
| 7 | Renault Kangoo | 8.838 | 13.995 | -37% | 4,3% | 4,9% | 3.475 |
| 8 | Toyota Proace City Verso | 8.491 | 0 | New | 4,1% | 0,0% | 4.026 |
| 9 | Ford Tourneo Courier | 7.148 | 23.995 | -70% | 3,5% | 8,4% | 2.489 |
| 10 | Mercedes-Benz Citan Combi | 3.363 | 4.591 | -27% | 1,6% | 1,6% | 771 |
| 11 | Nissan NV200 Evalia | 1.792 | 3.317 | -46% | 0,9% | 1,2% | 472 |
| 12 | Fiat Doblo | 1.137 | 6.301 | -82% | 0,6% | 2,2% | 314 |
| 13 | Fiat Qubo | 263 | 9.512 | -97% | 0,1% | 3,3% | 75 |
| 14 | Peugeot Partner Tepee / Ranch | 115 | 1.091 | -89% | 0,1% | 0,4% | 12 |
| Segment total | 205.340 | 287.265 | -29% |
Car sales statistics are from the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.
Sources: Manufacturers, ANDC, JATO Dynamics.