EU commercial vehicle market narrows 7.2% in January

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The EU market for commercial vehicles continued to shrink in the first month of 2021, with new registrations down 7.2%, a trade group said Wednesday.

The number of commercial vehicle registrations stood at 141,462 units last month, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).

"Demand contracted in all segments, although the drop in sales of new vans had the biggest impact, as this segment made up more than 80% of total EU commercial vehicle registrations," ACEA said.

Except for France (+5.7%), all major EU markets such as Spain (-29.3%), Germany (-17.1%) and Italy (-6.7%) saw declines last month.

During the first month of 2021, the light commercial vehicle segment narrowed 7.1%, with 116,177 new vans registered across the EU in total.

France – the leading market in terms of volume – was the only major van market to see growth (+7.4%) in January.

The EU's demand for new medium and heavy trucks slid back 5.8% to 22,795 units.

On the medium/heavy buses & coaches side, demand for new trucks across the EU fell as much as 24.1% in the same period.