EU Commercial Vehicle Registrations Down 1.2% in October 2020

In October 2020, the EU market for commercial vehicles contracted slightly, with the number of new registrations down 1.2% to 172,743 units. 

Total new commercial vehicles

Demand for light commercial vehicles increased last month, but registrations of new trucks and buses declined at the same time. The major EU markets posted mixed results, with Germany (+9.4%) and Italy (+7.4%) recording growth, while the Spanish (-8.3%) and French (-4.5%) markets contracted in October.

Ten months into the year, demand for commercial vehicles decreased by 22.2% in the European Union, counting roughly 1.4 million registrations in total. Although the declines were less severe than in the first half of the year, all 27 EU markets continued to record double-digit drops over the first 10 months, including the four major ones: Spain (-30.4%), France (-19.8%), Germany (-18.4%) and Italy (-18.4%).

New light commercial vehicles (LCV) up to 3.5t

October registrations of new vans in the EU slightly increased (+0.7%) compared to 2019, marking the second consecutive month of growth this year. Demand was mainly supported by sales in Western Europe (+1.7%), with both Germany (+13.5%) and Italy (+9.2%) posting solid gains last month. By contrast, the markets in Central Europe continued to struggle (-8.5%) in October.

So far in 2020, registrations of light commercial vehicles fell by 20.5% across the European Union. Looking at the four largest markets of the EU, Spain posted the sharpest decline in demand for new vans (-30.7%), followed by France (-18.9%), Italy (-18.2%) and Germany (-15.5%).

New heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) of 16t and over

Last month, the EU market for heavy commercial vehicles contracted by 9.8% to reach 20,858 registrations in total. With the exception of Italy (+5.5%) the major markets saw demand decline in October 2020: Spain (-28.7%), France (-11.5%) and Germany (-3.0%).

From January to October 2020, 161,002 heavy trucks were registered in the European Union, down 32.4% compared to the same period the year before. Each of the 27 EU markets recorded double-digit drops so far this year, including Germany (-30.9%), France (-30.3%), Spain (-26.9%) and Italy (-17.9%).

New medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5t

In October 2020, demand for new trucks decreased by 9.5%, owing to the negative results of the heavy-duty segment (which makes up the bulk of total truck demand). The big EU markets all performed worse than in October 2019, although Spain was the hardest hit (-27.3%) of the four.

Over the first 10 months of the year, registrations of new trucks declined sharply across the entire European Union, also in the four major markets: Spain (-26.0%), France (-28.5%), Germany (-28.1%) and Italy (-18.3%). In total, 201,258 trucks were registered so far this year, or 30.3% less than from January to October 2019.

New medium and heavy buses & coaches (MHBC) over 3.5t

October results show a fall of 12.6% in registrations of buses and coaches in the European Union. The major markets posted mixed results, with France (+11.4%) and Germany (+11.1%) recording solid gains last month, while Spain (-35.8%) and Italy (-18.5%) faced significant drops.

From January to October 2020, EU demand for buses and coaches contracted by 25.2%, counting 22,882 new registrations in total. As for the biggest EU markets, Spain (-44.6%) and Italy (-30.7%) continued to struggle 10 months into the year, while the downturn softened in France (-11.4%) and Germany (-4.2%).