Sales of new light commercial vehicles (LCVs) in the UK fell 2% year on year in February 2020 to after two successive months of growth, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
February is typically one of the year's quieter months as many operators wait for the new March number plate and saw 14,103 new units registered.
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Pickups and small vans weighing less than two tonnes experienced double digit declines, with registrations down 10.1% and 11.1% respectively.
Mid size vans weighing 2-2.5 tonnes bucked the trend, with demand growing 9.3%.
Larger vans weighing more than 2.5-3.5 tonnes made up the bulk of registrations, but were down 2.8%, with 9,082 units registered.
Year to date, the overall market remained ahead by 2.8% on the same period in 2019, bolstered by a strong January when almost 24,000 new vehicles were sold.
The top five models, after two months of 2020, were the Ford Transit Custom, full size Transit, Vauxhall Vivaro, Mercedes Sprinter and Transit Connect.
"The upcoming budget is an opportunity for government to bolster confidence in the market with supportive fiscal measures to encourage operators to invest in their fleets," the SMMT said.
