Commercial vehicle market down one fifth in 2020

The European manufacturers association ACEA just published the sales figures for the first eleven months of 2020 concerning commercial vehicles. At 1,5 million units sold, commercial vehicle registrations in the EU are now down 20,3%. In November, there was a very modest increase, entirely due to the truck segment, while demand for buses and vans still slightly slowed down.

When we consider the four major European markets, we see that Spain has regressed by 28,4% those last eleven months, France by 18,4%, Germany by 16,3%, and Italy by 15,6%.

Light commercial vehicles

The market for light commercial vehicles (LCV) is, of course, the biggest market, with 1,3 million units sold. That’s a loss of 18,7% compared to the first eleven months of last year. Here, too, we see that the drop in Spain (-28,8%) is far sharper than in France (-17,6%), Italy (-15,4%), or Germany (-13,4%).

In November, the results are mitigated, with growth in Italy (+10,3%) and Germany (+6,2%), but losses in Spain (-8,1%) and France (-3,8%). The reason for the less pronounced loss in the LCV segment is undoubtedly linked to the success of e-commerce in corona times, many goods being delivered at home.

Heavy commercial vehicles

For the same period, heavy commercial vehicles (HCV, 16 tons and more) registered a loss of 29,6%, and here Germany and France are the biggest losers (-28,6 and -27,9%) of the big four. But in November, the market for heavy trucks improved by 6% to 20 620 units. The central European countries contributed largely to this result with an increase of 28,6%.

Medium and heavy commercial vehicles

The market for new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MCHV, over 3,5 tons) followed the same tendency. Over eleven months, the market was down 27,7%, with France and Germany being the biggest losers again (-26,2% and -26,1%).

Also, in this segment, November brought a modest upturn of 3,7%. Italy recorded the strongest gain with +21,7%, followed by far more moderate France (+1,3%). Germany and Spain were still losing slightly (-3,0% and -1,0%).

Buses and coaches

New medium and heavy buses and coaches (MHBC, over 3,5 tons) slid down by 23,5% for the bespoke eleven months. Spain and Italy were the biggest losers (-41,3% and -27,3% respectively), while losses were far more limited in France (-9,5%) and Germany (-2,4%).

Here, November still saw a decrease of 5,1%, although all major western markets posted positive results. Italy grew by 27,0%, France by 13,4%, Germany by 11,6%, and Spain by 5,8% compared to November 2019.

Where does the loss come from? The Central European Countries dragged down the whole EU region’s overall performance by registering a sales drop of 22,6% compared to the eleventh month of 2019.