CLIMB: Commercial vehicle registrations up 30%
Commercial vehicle registrations in the UK grew by almost 30% in April compared to the same month in 2012, new figures show.
An overall April market growth of 29.5% was also complimented by an increase of 11.3% when comparing this year’s January to April figures to 2012’s.
The EU commercial vehicle market also grew overall in April (3.6%) – the first time since December 2011 – though there was a 7.6% drop in registrations in the January to April period.
Demand in the light commercial vehicle (under 3.5tonnes) market enjoyed a huge 43% UK growth in April, with January to April growth at 17.6%.
The same April market grew by 5.8% overall in the EU, though January to April registrations fell by 6.3%.
Despite the UK boom in commercial vehicles overall, drops were experienced in the heavy truck (over 16tonnes), heavy commercial vehicles (over 3.5tonnes) and bus and coach markets.
The heavy truck market shrank by 17.9% in April, while between January to April the drop was 14%; compared to EU-wide figures of -5.8% and -13.8% respectively.
Meanwhile, the heavy commercial vehicles (over 3.5t) market shrank by 12.9%, with a January to April drop of 15.4% – both worse than EU-wide figures of -5.2% and -13.8% respectively.
Finally, bus and coach registrations dropped by 18%, experiencing a January to April drop of 19.1%; however, EU registrations also dropped -3.1 and -6.4 respectively.
Image courtesy of Stephen Fulljames, with thanks.
