Van sales on the rise in Europe and UK so far in 2013

The market for new vans was buoyant across Europe in April, but bus and truck sales continue to be down and the UK is the only country to post a year-to-date increase in registrations.

While total commercial vehicle registrations rose 3.6% across Europe in April, that’s still 100,000 units below pre-crisis figures from April 2008.

The upturn in overall numbers is also chiefly thanks to the 5.8% rise in light commercial vehicle registrations as truck and bus registrations are down across Europe.

Van registrations were up 43% in the UK, 11.5% in Spain and 6.6% in Germany.

Heavy truck sales increased 2.7% in Italy, but were down in other markets including the UK where registrations fell 17.9%.

Trucks between 3.5t and 16t were also down 5.2%, the UK fell 16.1%, while bus and coach numbers dropped 3.1% in Europe and 19.1% in the UK.

The UK, however, shows a year-to-date increase in overall commercial vehicle registrations of 11.3%. Every other market in Europe reported a fall, with France down 9.0%, Germany 11.2%, Spain 12.9% and Italy 23.9%.

In all 545,049 commercial vehicles have been registered so far in 2013, 7.6% less than the same period in 2012.