What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

On the face of it the new van market appeared to be in rude health in the plate-change month of September, up 26.4% year-on-year to 52,096 units, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Small vans weighing less than 2.0t, however, occupied the one sector to record a downturn – contracting 2.5% to 2,852 units. Light vans weighing between 2.0t and 2.5 fared better, with volume up by 11.6% to 8,897 units.

Unfortunately, the overall picture was not as rosy as it seemed, with the leap in sales numbers down to the September 2019 market being weakened by the introduction of new, more stringent emissions regulations.

As the SMMT pointed out, the market was still below usual levels – trailing 6.6% behind the September average for the previous five years.

A truer reflection of the state of play could be seen in the year-to-date figures: over the first nine months of the year, the sub-2.0t sector was down 41.5% to 12,530 units and the 2.0-2.5t sector was lagging more than 20% behind last year’s total at 34,985.

Four light vans featured in the top 10 sellers list for the year to 30 September, with the Peugeot Partner, Citroen Berlingo, Ford Transit Connect and Vauxhall Combo occupying positions seven to 10.

Despite the contraction of the small van sector, there are signs of life and, intriguingly, having looked to be be on the endangered species list, car-derived light commercials may be making a comeback.

Ford has recently introduced a mild-hybrid version of its enduringly popular Fiesta Van. It gets Ford’s 125hp 1.0-litre 48V EcoBoost petrol powertrain and is designed to deliver “responsive petrol engine performance and reduced cost of ownership for urban hatchback van owners and operators”, according to the brand.

Ford says the fuel efficiency of the Fiesta Van is enhanced by up to 24Nm of electric torque while performance is boosted by up to 50Nm of electric torque at low rpm.

The manufacturer claims the Fiesta Van EcoBoost Hybrid will also offer operators access to areas placing restrictions on diesel vehicles. The mild-hybrid system does not reduce the Fiesta Van’s 1.0m³ load area or 531kg payload. 

A belt-driven integrated starter/generator (BISG) in place of the standard alternator enables recovery and storage of energy usually lost during braking and coasting to charge a 48V lithium-ion air-cooled battery pack and extends the range of the van’s auto stop-start technology to deliver greater fuel savings. The technology contributes to fuel efficiency of up to 68.8mpg and CO2 emissions from 93g/km on the NEDC cycle (55.3mpg and 115g/km WLTP) – an improvement of up to 6% compared with the non-hybrid model, Ford claims.