THE market for light commercials is booming, underpinned by factors such as the rise in the home delivery market.

A number of van manufacturers are seeing sales rising healthily and the latest to post successful figures is Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles which sees a fifth consecutive new UK sales record in 2016, registering over 45,000 new vans.

The latest generation Transporter and Caddy model ranges saw significant sales increases, while the brand's passenger carriers and campervan registrations took Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles' total 2016 registrations to 50,068, up nearly five per cent on 2015 (47,739). This result means the brand has more than doubled its volume since 2009.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles maintained but strengthened its number two position in the light commercial vehicles sector, recording a market share of 12.1 per cent.

Ford remained the market leader securing 30.5 per cent of the market.

The multi-award winning Transporter accounted for 22,872 registrations, up over 11 per cent on 2015 (50,533). A total of 8,156 Caddys were registered, down 757 compared to 2016, though Caddy Maxi sales were up over 35 per cent to 6,377, giving total Caddy registrations of 14,533.

Both the Amarok and Crafter models saw small declines in sales as the brand prepares to relaunch the refreshed pick-up and all-new Crafter this year with Amarok sales at 3,586 down from 3,908 in 2015 and 7,137 Crafter sales in 2016 down from 8,009 in 2015.

Director of Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Carl zu Dohna, said: "2016 was a really successful year for the brand, with the Transporter and Caddy consolidating their positions in the market after being launched in September 2015. I'm really proud of my team and the Van Centre network for achieving this result."

He added: "I'm delighted that customers are getting to know our latest products and appreciating not only their inherent strengths, but also the aftersales support and complete mobility packages which we have put around them. The support we give to our customers to help them choose the right vans and minimise in-life downtime, as well as adding value to our range of products remains extremely important to us."