Ford Transit tops the ratings nationwide

Date: Wednesday, May 1, 2013

The Ford Transit was the top selling van across all the UK’s regions in 2012, according to the SMMT’s Motorparc census of the automotive sector.

There was far more regional variation in the other models making up the nation’s top threes, however.

VW’s Transporter took second spot in the east, the south, the south west, Wales, the west and the densely populated areas of London and the south east.

It did not feature in the top three in the West Midlands, however, where the second and third biggest sellers were the Vauxhall Vivaro and Mercedes Sprinter respectively.

The Sprinter was the second best seller in the north east and Cumbria and the north west and took third spot in London, the west, the West Midlands and Yorkshire.

Vauxhall’s range proved to have nationwide appeal with the Combo making it into the top three in the east, east midlands and Yorkshire while the AstraVan was the third most popular LCV in the south east.

Citroen’s Berlingo appealed to customers in Scotland and Northern Ireland and Peugeot’s Partner was the third best seller in the north east and Cumbria.

A couple of more niche models made it onto the list, doubtless due to their off-road prowess, with the Land Rover Defender 90 represented in the south west and Mitsubishi’s L200 a hit in Wales.

Overall the UK’s three biggest selling vans last year were the Ford Transit (48,075, medium and large iterations combined), the Mercedes Sprinter (16, 348) and the Vauxhall Vivaro (13,599).

The Motorparc census based its research on the BBC’s UK TV regions.

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