Commercial vehicle registrations in the EU rose 3.2% last year despite a 3.5% fall in December.
Latest results from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) show overall demand in the EU for commercial vehicles remained positive, with some 2.4m additional registrations compared to 2016 (+3.2%). Spain drove this growth with the highest percentage increase (+13.5%), followed by France (+6.9%) and Germany (+3.3%). By contrast, demand in Italy (-2.3%) and the United Kingdom (-4.4%) fell in 2017.
In contrast, December demand fell across all segments in the five major European markets, with the exception of Germany that saw an increase of 0.2%. At the other end of the spectrum, Italy saw a decline of 17.4% in December.
Demand for new light commercial vehicles (LCVs) up to 3.5 tonnes rose 3.2% last year to 2.0 million units with Spain (+15.5%), France (+7.1%) and Germany (+4.9%) witnessing the largest growth, whereas demand for vans declined in the UK (-3.6%) and Italy (-3.4%).
December van demand fell 3% with 172,603 vehicles registered in total. Rises were seen in Germany (+2.2%) and the UK (+2.9%), while demand contracted in Italy (-18.0%), France (-3.9%) and Spain (-1.7%).
For new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5 tonnes, a total of 367,102 units were registered last year, down just 0.2%. France (+6.5%) and Italy (+4.5%) performed well in 2017, but truck registrations fell in the UK and Germany (-7.1% and -0.9% respectively).
December truck results were down 6.7%, with 29,051 units registered. Demand declined in the United Kingdom (-22.2%), Italy (-13.5%), Spain (-5.8%) and Germany (-5.3%), but it did grow in France (+7.5%).
