Demand increased 8.2 per cent in the first month of the year, totalling 173,614 units, and was mostly driven by the light commercial vehicle and van segment, ACEA found, which grew 9.3 per cent
In the medium-duty category, 27,885 new trucks were registered, 3.6 per cent more than in January 2016. The heavy truck segment above 16 tonnes – often used as an indicator for trailer sales – also showed modest growth of 3.9 per cent, with 23,195 new vehicles registered.
Most of the major EU markets contributed to this growth, especially Italy (+54.5 per cent), France (+12.0 per cent) and the UK (+8.8 per cent), although the Spanish (-10.0 per cent) and German (-5.9 per cent) markets faced a downturn.
Across all categories, the EU’s five largest markets all posted gains in January, with Spain (+23.8 per cent), Italy (+11.4 per cent) and France (+10.3 per cent) recording the highest growth rates.
