Commercial vehicle registrations: +36.9% first half of 2021; +12.4% in June

Total new commercial vehicles

In June 2021, commercial vehicle registrations in the EU markets increased by 12.4% year-on-year to 185,573 units. All vehicle segments made a positive contribution to last month’s growth. Demand was largely driven by Central European countries (+43.4%), while only two of the four key Western European markets showed positive results: Germany (+28.5%) and Italy (+5.3%).

During the first half of the year, EU commercial vehicle registrations went up by 36.9% to 1 million units, reflecting the contribution of the big gains recorded between March and May. Most of the region’s markets posted double-digit percentage gains, including the four largest ones: Italy (+53.7%), Spain (+38.4%), France (+36.4%) and Germany (+21.7%).

New light commercial vehicles (LCV) up to 3.5t

Registrations of new vans across the EU grew again by 9.6% in June, although at a more modest rate than previous months. Germany saw the highest growth of the region’s four largest markets (+28.2%), followed by Italy (+1.5%). On the other hand, registrations fell in France (-10.0%) and Spain (-4.9%) last month.

From January to June, sales of new light commercial vehicles in the EU went up by 38.1% to 856,926 units, benefiting from the positive performance of recent months. This trend is reflected at a country level, with the four biggest markets in the region all recording double-digit growth: Italy (+55.8%), Spain (+39.9%), France (+38.7%) and Germany (+23.0%).

New heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) of 16t and over

In June 2021, demand for new heavy trucks continued to expand (+37.1%), totalling 21,828 units registered across the European Union. Three of the four major markets posted solid gains last month – Italy (+48.8%), Germany (+30.8%) and Spain (+26.8%) – while sales in France slightly declined (-2.1%) compared to June 2020.

Six months into 2021, new heavy trucks sold in the EU went up by 39.3% to reach 128,333 units. All the major markets consolidated their positive results during this period: Italy (+51.7%), Spain (+42.9%), Germany (+23.2%) and France (+19.2%).

New medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5t

In June, the truck segment also had a very positive performance, with demand up 33.1% to 26,512 units registered in the EU. With the exception of France (-2.3%), all major markets largely contributed to last month’s growth: Italy (+41.7%), Germany (+29.9%) and Spain (+17.7%).

Throughout the first half of 2021, the EU market for medium and heavy commercial vehicles expanded by 34.1%, with 154,387 units sold in total. Italy saw the highest percentage growth of the EU major markets (+47.6%), followed by Spain (+32.5%), France (+20.3%) and Germany (+19.4%).

New medium and heavy buses & coaches (MHBC) over 3.5t

June registrations of new buses and coaches in the European Union were 9.4% higher than in the same month last year. Germany (+24.0%), Italy (+23.2%) and Spain (+18.1%) all recorded significant gains last month, while France was the only major market to post a decline (-14.1%).

So far in 2021, the EU bus and coach segment increased by 3.2% to 12,887 units. On the back of June’s positive performance, declines for the first half of the year were less significant in both Spain (-13.5%) and Germany (-0.04%) compared to the January-May period. On the other hand, demand remained positive in Italy and France (+6.0% and +4.7% respectively).