EU Commercial Vehicles increase by 4.3% : Irish HGV market in decline

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commercial vehicles

Registrations of new commercial vehicles in the European Union posted growth of 4.3% up to the end of April 2018, mainly due to April’s positive sales momentum, after a decline in March.

New registrations totalled 822,481 units so far this year, with Spain (+12.3%) recording double-digit growth figures, followed by France (+6.4%), Italy (+3.9%) and Germany (+3.8%). UK commercial vehicle demand, however, went down by 3.4% compared to the same period in 2017.

So far in 2018, 680,930 new light commercial vehicles were registered across the European Union, up 4.3% compared to the same period one year ago. Growth was posted in Spain (+12.4%), France (+6.2%), Germany (+5.4%) and Italy (+2.0%). By contrast, demand for vans decreased by 2.3% in the United Kingdom during the first four months of the year.

Four months into 2018 and the EU marketplace for new heavy trucks has grown by 5.8%, with 104,489 units registered in total. The Italian (+19.1%), French (+11.3%) and Spanish (+10.4%) markets posted the strongest gains over the period. On the other hand, demand fell in the United Kingdom (-8.2%) and remained stable in Germany (-0.4%).

From January to April 2018, demand for new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5 tonnes increased by 4.8% across the EU, recording 128,310 units. Italy (+15.3%), Spain (+11.2%) and France (+9.1%) all performed very well, although registrations did fall in the United Kingdom (-8.4%) during the first four months of the year.

Official statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that total new Light Commercial Vehicle registrations (LCV) were up 12.5% (1,644) on May 2017 (1,461) and year to date have increased by 5.9% (15,943). Meanwhile new Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HGV) have declined 4.2% for the month of May (228) compared to the same month last year (238) and are down 7.7% (1,385) year to date.

• Light Commercial Vehicles sales year to date (2018) 15,943 v (2017) 15,051 +5.9%
• Light Commercial Vehicles sales total May (2018) 1,644 v (2017) 1,461 +12.5%
• Heavy Goods Vehicle total sales year to date (2018) 1,385 v (2017) 1,501 -7.7%
• Heavy Goods Vehicle sales total May (2018) 228 v (2017) 238 -4.2%