In January 2021, new commercial vehicle registrations in the European Union fell by 7.2% to 141,462 units. Demand contracted in all segments, although the drop in sales of new vans had the biggest impact, as this segment made up more than 80% of total EU commercial vehicle registrations. With the exception of France (+5.7%), all major EU markets posted declines last month: Spain (-29.3%), Germany (-17.1%) and Italy (-6.7%).
New light commercial vehicles (LCV) up to 3.5 tonnes
During the first month of 2021, the light commercial vehicle segment shrank by 7.1%, with 116,177 new vans registered across the EU in total. France – the leading market in terms of volume – was the only major van market to record growth (+7.4%) in January. By contrast, Spain posted the steepest decline (-31.2%), followed by Germany (-18.5%) and Italy (-9.2%).
New heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) of 16t and over
Last month, new heavy truck registrations contracted slightly (-3.3%) to 19,227 units, with mixed results across the European Union. The markets in Central Europe posted strong results (+8.7%) in January, while among the largest Western European markets, Italy was the only country to make a positive contribution (+8.7%). Indeed, Spain (-8.6%), France (-7.8%) and Germany (-5.3%) all recorded declines during the first month of 2021.
New medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5t
In January, demand for new medium and heavy trucks slid back by 5.8% to 22,795 units. Looking at the major EU markets again, Italy managed to post growth (+8.5%) while Spain (-12.8%), Germany (-11.5%) and France (-4.9%) all performed worse than in January 2020.
New medium and heavy buses & coaches (MHBC) over 3.5t
January 2021 registrations of new buses and coaches in the European Union contracted by 24.1% compared to the same month last year. In three of the four largest EU markets demand fell at double-digit rates: Spain (-60.0%), Germany (-27.3%) and France (-13.1%), while Italy recorded a more modest decline (-4.0%) in demand for buses and coaches.
