Sales of new vans in the Irish market rose again in January, by a substantial 21 per cent, compared to the same month in 2025. With van sales generally seen as being a bellwether for underlying economic performance, that will make for happy reading in the boardrooms of Ireland Inc.
Van sales did pretty well in 2025, closing out the year with a seven per cent increase overall. Ford was the best-selling van brand in Ireland last year, followed by Volkswagen, Renault, Toyota, Citroen, Opel, Peugeot, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, and Maxus.
The best-selling individual model in 2025 wasn’t a Ford, though — it was actually the Renault Trafic, which was followed in second place by the Ford Transit Custom, with the bigger Transit van in third place. The rest of the top ten was made up of the Renault Master, the VW Caddy, the Peugeot Partner, the Citroen Berlingo, the Toyota Land Cruiser Commercial, the Toyota Hilux, and the Ford Ranger.
What about electric van sales?
Registrations of battery-powered vans saw a major uptick in 2025, with an increase of 115 per cent in EV van sales. That represents only a 6.15 per cent market share, compared to diesel’s 91.27 per cent, but electric vans are fast-growing in popularity. Plug-in hybrid models also saw a massive rise — 2,854 per cent, but that was from very low figures, so the overall total sold was only 504.
Who’s on top this year?
It’s early days yet, of course, but so far in January the Renault Trafic was still the No.1 seller, while the Peugeot Partner has beaten the mighty Ford Transit into third place.
What new van models are arriving this year?
A major new launch this year will be the Kia PV5, which is the Korean brand’s first venture into the light commercial market. It’s only available in all-electric form, so it will be interesting to see if it can stir more interest in the EV van market. It will also be coming in at a sharper price point than its major rival, the VW ID. Buzz Cargo.
Kia’s sister company, Hyundai, is now offering a commercial version of its hugely popular compact Inster EV, priced from just €20,495. Renault will shortly have an all-EV companion for that big-selling Trafic with the new Estafette, which gets sharp styling (not unlike the Kia PV5 actually) and a range of up to 450km.
Also going electric is the Toyota Hilux — don’t worry, the diesel model will continue on sale, but there will be an all-battery version soon, with a limited range of just 250km.
Iveco is also rolling out new EV vans — the eJolly and eSuperJolly, while Kia will later in the year launch the bigger, heavier-payload PV7. Finally, there’s a big one coming soon — an all-new Mercedes Sprinter which will launch in all-electric form first, with diesel and plug-in hybrid models to follow.