Commercial vehicle registrations continue to decline in Europe – Fleet Europe
The total registrations of new commercial vehicles continued to decline in Europe in February, following the fading numbers in January.
The demand for commercial vehicles in Europe declined 13.5% from January to February, accumulating to 257,127 units, according to ACEA (the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association). The biggest decline in demand was seen in Spain and France, being -21.9% and -19.3%, respectively.
Except for heavy commercial units, registrations in all segments of new commercial vehicles were down 15.7%, totalling 131,874 units. Spain again displayed the biggest squeeze with -23.3%, followed by France with -21.4%.
Chip shortage takes its toll on LCVs
In January and February of 2022, new light commercial vehicles (LVCs) registrations shrunk 16.3% in the European Union, totalling 206,345 units. Spain was again at the top of all the major markets with the biggest decline of -27,1%.
In January, sales of LCVs in the EU hit a double-digit decline of -18.2% due to the semiconductor shortage ravaging the manufacturing industry.
Modest growth for heavy commercial vehicles
Except for Italy, which had a -0.7% fall, all major markets in the EU saw growth in heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs); Germany led the list by +11.8%, followed by France with +6.4% and Spain with +3.7%. On average, the slight growth of +0.4 in February ended with 19,690 units sold.
From January to February, registrations of new HCVs increased by 4.1% and hit 40,270 vehicles in total. In this segment, Spain led the growth by +10.3%, followed by Germany with +4.9% and France with +4%.
Demand for trucks is up in major markets
While the numbers in Western Europe were modestly high for new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCVs), the demand for trucks faded 1.5% in the EU in February, totalling 23,124 units. Germany saw a +5.9% growth, while Italy and France witnessed a 2.6% and 2.1% growth.
Only three EU markets recorded growth in total new commercial sales in the first two months; Latvia, Slovakia and Cyprus showed a +33.6%, +20.9 and +10.5 growth respectively in a year on year rise. On the other hand, the UK saw a decline of 15.3% in the first two months of 2022, compared to the same period of 2021.
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