The European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) has published the latest figures for light and heavy commercial vehicle registrations in the EU, UK, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland in the first half of 2024. The figures show a significant increase in new van and lorry registrations across the European Union in the first half of the year, while the lorry market showed a more moderate growth of 3%, reaching 183,295 units.
The van market showed robust growth of 15%, with 840,409 new vans registered, driven by double-digit increases in several key markets. Germany led the way with an increase of 19.3%, followed by Spain with 18.5%, Italy with 17.8% and France with 10.5%. The UK also recorded a 4.3% increase in new van registrations. In contrast, Poland recorded a slight decline of 4.3% and Lithuania a more modest increase of 9.2%.
The lorry market’s growth was primarily attributed to an 18.2% surge in medium-sized lorry sales – Lithuania saw a 20% increase, Poland a 4% increase, while the UK had a significant increase of 24.1%.
However, regarding heavy-sized lorries, Lithuania saw a huge decrease in the number of registrations in the first half of 2024 compared to 2023 with a -49.2%. The decrease is evident but smaller in Poland (-11.8%) and the UK as well (-7.7%).
This means that the overall heavy goods vehicle registrations in Europe remained relatively flat with a 0.3% increase. Spain and Italy spearheaded the growth with gains of 21.7% and 10.5%, respectively. Germany and France also posted increases of 8.1% and 5.5%, respectively. The UK’s HGV market, however, saw a decline of 0.6%.
As for fuel choices, diesel continues to be the dominant fuel type for both vans and lorries, accounting for 84.3% and 95.7% of new registrations. Electrically chargeable vans and lorries, however, are gaining traction, with increases of 3.7% and 51.6%, respectively.
Germany is leading the adoption of electric lorries, contributing 53% of the EU’s total. In 2024 Q1, German companies bought 579 electric lorries, Dutch companies bought 274, and French companies bought 257.
The interest in petrol lorries is practically zero, according to the figures by ACEA, but alternative fuels labeled “others” (meaning fuel cell vehicles and vehicles powered by natural gas, including LPG, ethanol, and other fuels) are the winners of the alternative fuel sections: while EU+UK+EFTA countries bought 2,138 electric lorries, the number of “other” HGVs surged to 4,211. France was the leader in this league with 1,981 vehicles, followed by Germany (458) and Spain (338).