The research from Dataforce – which follows on from the YtD figures for cars – show that across all five major markets, the true fleet market (commercial registrations without manufacturers, dealerships and Rent-A-Cars) expanded by 9.0% in the first four months of 2016.

Germany and especially Italy showed outstanding results with growth rates of +10.2% and +22.1% respectively. France and Spain were both up by 6.8% while the UK rose 5.6%.

For the first four months of 2016 Renault was the market leader in the EU-5 LCV fleet market. The French brand increased its registrations by 10.8% over January-April 2015.

Thanks to a rise of 22.8% Ford was able to overtake Peugeot and jumped in second position. Ford’s minor drop in France was overcompensated by growth rates of more than 20% in Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom and especially by a strong performance in Italy.

Number three in Europe was Peugeot followed by Citroen, Volkswagen and Fiat. Mercedes in 7th position and Nissan (9th behind Opel) were the only brands with growing volumes in all five markets included in the analysis. The top 10 was completed by Iveco; ranking number 10 overall and in fifth place in its home market Italy.

Looking at individual models, with a market share of 5.09% the Mercedes Sprinter was only slightly ahead of the competitors Citroen Berlingo (5.04%) and Ford Transit Custom (5.01%). The biggest improvement in terms of relative growth within the top 15 models could be seen for Renault Trafic (rank number 7, +28.5%), Ford Transit (eighth, +26.5%) and Ford Transit Custom (third, +21.6%).