Let’s have a look at light commericals

AS you may have noticed from our cover, this edition of Drivesouth steps away from the usual mix of news and new car reviews, to focus on the vehicle needs of our trades folk.

So there’s few conventional cars or SUVs in sight — it’s all about utes and vans.

In taking this approach, we are actually throwing the spotlight on a category of vehicle — collectively called light commercials — that accounts for around a third of all new vehicles sold in this country. That was 53,446 vehicles last year, of which 23,870 were fourwheel drive utes, 15,044 were twowheel drive utes, and most of the balance vans of various types and sizes.

If you look at sales modelbymodel, an even more striking picture appears: five of the top 10 and seven of the top 15 bestselling new vehicles last year were light commercials. They included the country’s two topselling vehicles of any kind — the Ford Ranger and Toyota Hilux. And so far this year, light commercials hold down four of the five spots on the new vehicle sales charts.

The main new vehicle light commercial choices currently available comprise roughly 15 ute models and a dozen vans. These range from the workhorse machines used purely for work, through to the flagship vehicles that are equally likely to transport the family, the boat, and other toys deemed necessary for weekend and holiday fun.

In focusing on new light commercials, we don’t ignore the importance of secondhand vehicles for many customers, including usedimport vans and all types of NZnew light commercials finding new owners in later life.

We’ve also drawn on the expertise of the specialist team from New Zealand LCV (light commercial vehicle)

Magazine for some advice on fitting out a light commercial vehicle, and on vehicle security. Fitout is a big deal for any commercial operator, and a factor that certainly needs to be built into the budget. Security is a hot topic, too, as, wherever you live in the Drivesouth

readership area, the tools and other items of equipment stored in a trade vehicle are tempting targets for the criminal element of our population.

Last and not least, while the Drivesouth team has been informally calling this our ‘‘Tradies Issue’’, we expect it will appeal to a much wider audience. Farmers and others in rural communities are also big customers for utes, while vans can be used to carry pretty much everything.