In the first quarter of 2021 the passenger van segment in Europe is down 11% to 81,500 sales, in a stable overall market. Small passenger vans account for 52.8% of these with sales down 19% and midsized passenger vans for the remaining 47.2% as this subsegment loses 5% of its sales so far this year.
The Volkswagen Transporter T6 and its luxury derivative Multivan stay ahead of the midsized passenger van segment with sales up 11%, improving their share of the class to 32.4%. The combination of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class and Vito Tourer are down 18% up to 22.2% share. This includes the EQV electric version. The Stellantis-Toyota quadruplets also became available in EV versions and improve to third place with sales up 13% for a share of 16.9%. The latest addition Opel/Vauxhall Zafira Life is the best seller of the four, ahead of the the Peugeot Traveller/Expert, Toyota Proace Verso, 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 53% to 6.3% share as they lost the Opel Vivaro version. As a result, the Ford Tourneo Custom outsold the Trafic and co. and is in 2nd place when comparing nameplates separately, 16.3% share, thanks to sales up 111%. The Hyundai H1 is being replaced by the futuristic looking Staria this year. We also welcome the SAIC Maxus Euniq, an all-electric passenger van, for now only sold in Norway and Sweden.
2021-Q1 midsized passenger van sales Europe
| Midsized passenger van segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Volkswagen Transporter / Multivan | 12.505 | 11.303 | 11% | 32,4% | 29,5% |
| 2 | Ford Tourneo Custom | 6.290 | 2.988 | 111% | 16,3% | 7,8% |
| 3 | Mercedes-Benz V-Class | 4.460 | 6.185 | -28% | 11,6% | 16,2% |
| 4 | Mercedes-Benz Vito Tourer | 4.123 | 4.338 | -5% | 10,7% | 11,3% |
| 5 | Opel/Vauxhall Zafira Life | 2.463 | 2.451 | 0% | 6,4% | 6,4% |
| 6 | Peugeot Traveller | 2.134 | 2.056 | New | 5,5% | 5,4% |
| 7 | Toyota Proace Verso | 2.124 | 2.224 | -4% | 5,5% | 5,8% |
| 8 | Citroën Spacetourer | 1.917 | 1.336 | 43% | 5,0% | 3,5% |
| 9 | Renault Trafic Passenger | 1.722 | 4.233 | -59% | 4,5% | 11,1% |
| 10 | Opel/Vauxhall Vivaro Tour | 353 | 157 | 125% | 0,9% | 0,4% |
| 11 | Fiat Talento | 184 | 465 | -60% | 0,5% | 1,2% |
| 12 | Nissan NV300 | 170 | 302 | -44% | 0,4% | 0,8% |
| 13 | Maxus Euniq | 124 | 0 | New | 0,3% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Hyundai H1 / Starex | 12 | 252 | -95% | 0,0% | 0,7% |
| Segment total | 38.581 | 38.290 | 1% |
Small Passenger Van segment
Sales of small passenger vans are down 19% and the Volkswagen Caddy is no longer the leader, even when looking at individual nameplates. The Citroën Berlingo Multispace has taken back control of the class for the first time since 2011, despite sales down 2% on Q1 of last year. That’s because the Caddy is down 34% as it’s in the middle of a model changeover, and the Berlingo’s sibling Peugeot Rifter is down 26% into third place. When looking at combined sales of similar models, the Stellantis-Toyota quadruplets are obviously the leaders by a large margin, controlling 58.2% of the segment, up from 46.3% in Q1 of 2020. That’s because they make up four of the top-5 positions with the Opel/Vauxhall Combo Tourup 16% and the Toyota Proace City Verso boosting to #5. They’ve also become available as EV now. The Dacia Dokker is down 56% as it will be discontinued and replaced by a low-budget version of the new generation Renault Kangoo, named Renault Express. The outgoing generation Kangoo and its clones Mercedes-Benz Citan and Nissan NV250 is down 37%. Mercedes will also launch a luxury version of its next Citan, called T-Class, which will also become available with an EV powertrain as the EQT. The NV250 is a bit of a strange addition, so late in the model’s life cycle, and only 10 units were registered in the first three months of the year. The Nissan NV200 is down 22% and sells 4.5 times as many. The Ford Tourneo Connect is down 4% and outsells the French/German/Japanese triplets. Its smaller sibling Tourneo Courier is down 22%.
2021-Q1 small passenger van sales Europe
| Small passenger van segment | 2021-Q1 | 2020-Q1 | Change | 2021 share | 2020 share | |
| 1 | Citroën Berlingo Multispace | 8.972 | 9.110 | -2% | 20,9% | 17,1% |
| 2 | Volkswagen Caddy Life | 8.519 | 12.961 | -34% | 19,8% | 24,4% |
| 3 | Peugeot Rifter | 7.874 | 10.707 | -26% | 18,3% | 20,1% |
| 4 | Opel/Vauxhall Combo Tour | 4.656 | 4.010 | 16% | 10,8% | 7,5% |
| 5 | Toyota Proace City Verso | 3.490 | 807 | 332% | 8,1% | 1,5% |
| 6 | Dacia Dokker | 3.280 | 7.504 | -56% | 7,6% | 14,1% |
| 7 | Ford Tourneo Connect | 2.700 | 2.811 | -4% | 6,3% | 5,3% |
| 8 | Renault Kangoo | 1.423 | 1.715 | -17% | 3,3% | 3,2% |
| 9 | Ford Tourneo Courier | 1.279 | 1.634 | -22% | 3,0% | 3,1% |
| 10 | Nissan NV200 Evalia | 449 | 575 | -22% | 1,0% | 1,1% |
| 11 | Mercedes-Benz Citan Combi | 138 | 792 | -83% | 0,3% | 1,5% |
| 12 | Fiat Doblo | 129 | 455 | -72% | 0,3% | 0,9% |
| 13 | Nissan NV250 | 10 | 0 | New | 0,0% | 0,0% |
| 14 | Fiat Qubo | 8 | 71 | -89% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| Segment total | 42.927 | 53.193 | -19% |
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.