EU commercial vehicle market expands 36.9% in H1

By Aysu Bicer

ANKARA (AA) - The EU market for commercial vehicles grew 36.9% to 1 million in the first half of 2021, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) said on Wednesday.

This figure mirrors the contribution of the big gains seen this March to May, said the trade group.

Most of the region’s markets saw double-digit percentage gains, including the four largest ones: Italy (53.7%), Spain (38.4%), France (36.4%), and Germany (21.7%).

From January to June, the light commercial vehicle segment also expanded 38.1% to 856,926 units, benefiting from the positive performance of recent months.

The EU's demand for new medium and heavy trucks rose 39.3% to 128,333 units, with the all leading markets seeing remarkable gains.

On the medium/heavy buses and coaches side, demand for new trucks across the EU rose as much as 3.2% to 12,887 units in the same period.

"On the back of June’s positive performance, declines for the first half of the year were less significant in both Spain (-13.5%) and Germany (-0.04%) compared to the January-May period," the group said.

In June, commercial vehicle registrations in EU markets climbed 12.4% year-on-year to 185,573 units.

"Demand was largely driven by Central European countries (+43.4%), while only two of the four key Western European markets showed positive results: Germany (+28.5%) and Italy (+5.3%)," said the trade group.