Around one million commercial vehicles have been sold in Europe in the first half of 2021, according to the data released today by ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. 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%).

In June 2021, commercial vehicle registrations in the EU markets increased by 12.4% year-on-year to 185,573 units. In May, as we wrote here, new registrations had increased by 51.3% to 165,363 units, more than 30,000 below pre-pandemic volume levels. All vehicle segments made a positive contribution to last month’s growth.

Light commercial vehicles in Europe up by 38.1%

From January to June 2021, 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. 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.

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%). Very good performance for the truck segment over 3.5 tonnes also in June, with demand up 33.1% to 26,512 units registered in the EU and, once again, significant growth above all in Italy (+41.7%).

The heavy commercial vehicle segment

In the heavy commercial vehicle segment (16 tonnes and over), new 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%). In June 2021, demand for new heavy trucks continued to expand (+37.1%), totalling 21,828 units registered across the European Union.

Highlights

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