Sales of New Commercial Vehicles in Europe fell 19.5% in May 2022

Sales of new light commercial vehicles (up to 3.5 tonnes) reached 121 thousand in May, down 23.1% yoy. Historically, between January 1997 and May 2022, sales reached a high of 240 thousand in March 2019 and a low of 53.6 thousand in April 2020. The average annual growth in that period amounted to -0.117%.

Total of 23.1 thousand new medium commercial vehicles (weighting from 3.5-16 tonnes) were registered in May, up 1.10% yoy. That is compared to average annual growth of 0.271% seen in 2012 - 2022.

Sales of heavy vehicles (exceeding 16 tonnes) amounted to 18.8 thousand, up 6.60% yoy. That's compared to maximum of 47.4 thousand recorded in April 2006 and minimum of 8.12 thousand seen in August 2009. Sales of heavy vehicles have been growing by 1.20% a year on average since 1997.

Some 2.35 thousand new buses have been delivered in May in Europe, up 24.9% when compared to last year. Historically, between 1997 and 2022, sales reached a high of 4.74 thousand in June 2019 and a low of 1.23 thousand in April 2020. The average annual growth in that period amounted to 0.017%.

Most vehicles (33.0 thousand) were sold in France (down 16.8% yoy), followed by the UK (26.1 thousand, down 21.9%), Germany with 24.3 thousand cars (down 19.5%), 18.1 thousand new vehicles were registered in Italy (down 7.05%) and 12.8 thousand thousand in Spain (down 29.3%). The five largest countries accounted for 91.7% of total new vehicles registered in May 2022.

In relative terms, sales in Iceland (+78.8%) and Cyprus (+45.6%) showed the best performance compared to a year ago, whereas registration in Ireland and Austria performed the worst (-33.6% and -58.8% yoy), in May 2022, according to ACEA.

Between 1997 and 2022, sales of commercial vehicles in Europe have increased from 155 thousand to 147 thousand, or -0.087%. a year on average.

In the first five months of the year, some 740 thousand commercial vehicles were sold in Europe, down 27.8% yoy. While most vehicles were sold in France (169 thousand) followed by the UK (137 thousand) and Germany (125 thousand), sales in Iceland (up 34.0%) and Latvia (up 16.7%) performed the best compared to a year ago, according to ACEA. On the other hand, registrations in Austria (down 51.3%), Spain (down 31.3%) and Belgium (down 27.5%) were relatively the weakest, since the beginning of the year:

Based on a comparison of 138 countries, USA ranked the highest with 11,051 thousand commercial vehicles sold in 2020 followed by the China and Canada. Total sales of commercial vehicles reached 24,372 thousand in 2020 in the world, according to OICA. This is 8.69% less than in the previous year and 27.3% more than 10 years ago. Historically, total sales of commercial vehicles reached a high of 26,971 thousand in 2018 and a low of 15,912 thousand in 2009, in between 2005-2020. The average annual growth stands at 1.16% since 2005.

The top ranked country, USA, accounted for 45.3% of all commercial vehicles sold in the world. The top 3 countries held a 71.4% share while the ten largest countries some 71.4% in 2020.

USA was the largest commercial vehicle producer in 2020 with 6,896 thousand followed by Thailand and Spain. Total production of commercial vehicles reached 21,787 thousand in 2020 in the world, according to OICA. USA accounted for 31.6% of the world's production, while the top 3 countries held a 37.9% share and the ten largest countries some some 44.4% in 2020:

USA ranked the highest in sales of light commercial vehicles with 6,138 thousand followed by Brazil and France in 2012.

In terms of medium commercial vehicles, Germany ranked the highest with 23.4 thousand vehicles sold followed by the UK and France in 2021.

Most heavy commercial vehicles (50.3 thousand) were sold in Germany, followed by France (36.7 thousand) and the UK (27.8 thousand). On the other hand, China, the Japan and USA produced 82.9% of total heavy commercial vehicles in 2020:

In terms of new buses and coaches, Germany was the largest investor with 6.46 thousand vehicles bought in 2020, followed by France (6.05 thousand) and the UK (4.62 thousand). On the other hand, China was the largest producer with 103 thousand vehicles:

Based on a comparison of 27 firms among Commercial Vehicle Producers, Volvo Group generated the highest sales in 2021 followed by Tata Motors and Paccar. At the same time, Tata Motors had the highest market value followed by Zhengzhou Yutong Bus and Marcopolo:

Volvo Group generated the highest earnings before interest costs, taxes and depreciation (so called EBITDA) in 2021 followed by Tata Motors and Paccar. At the same time, Volvo Group generated the highest EBITDA Margin followed by Tata Motors and Paccar.