The organisation found total commercial vehicle registrations increase by 25.8% for the month, up 13.1% for the year-to-date and 18.4% over the rolling year.
According to the SMMT, this shows that the van market maintains a period of strong growth, up 34.5% in July and 18.9% over the year-to-date to more than 180,000 units.
Truck registrations fell by 16.3% in July, down 21.9% over the year-to-date following a surge towards the end of 2013 due to the introduction of Euro-6. The rolling year total remains up 16.4%, following increased activity last year.
Commenting on the findings, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘The commercial vehicle market has delivered another strong month overall, driven by an impressive number of van registrations. This reflects growing business confidence in the economy and the variety of highly capable and efficient vans on the market.
‘The truck sector is continuing a downward trend brought about by an influx of orders at the end of 2013 due to incoming Euro-6 standards. There is increasing positivity in the market, however, which should see registrations return to normal levels over the coming months.’
Commenting on the figures, Sue Robinson, director of the National Franchised Dealers Association, which represents commercial vehicle and franchised car retailers across the UK, said: 'Although the truck sector continued its downward trend with a decline of -16.3%, there are indications of improvement since the surge of Euro 5 chassis which were registered last December prior to the Euro6 introduction. Heavy rigid chassis over 16 tonnes were up 7.4%; these vehicles are often used in construction.
'The -16.3% change is less than the year to date decline, thus indicating that many of the pre-registration Euro 5 trucks have now been sold and the HGV market should begin to stabilise soon.'