Truck registrations soared by 32% in October while van and overall commercial vehicle numbers also showed strong performances, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
As company’s bagged new Euro 6 trucks or brought forward orders of Euro 5 vehicles to avoid the impending emissions requirements, higher than usual registration numbers were expected in the latter part of 2013.
October saw 5,105 registrations, a 32% increase on last year, which has also helped to pull year-to-date truck numbers into positive numbers versus last year with 39,457 hitting the road, up 3.2%.
It was also a strong month for vans with 22,473 registrations leaving last October 26.3% in the shade. Year-to-date there have been 227,477 van registrations, an 11% increase.
All registrations combined to total 266,934, a 9.8% rise that puts the UK head and shoulders above other markets in Europe.
“Both the van and truck markets showed great strength in October boosting the sector by 27.3% and taking the 2013 growth rate to almost 10%,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive.
“We expected that the Euro 5/6 change would see the truck market grow in strength towards year-end and for vans, SMMT has raised its forecast on the back of sustained demand and confidence to 264,100, a 10.2% rise on last year.”
October was also a positive month for bus and coach registrations, but the year-to-date picture in this sector is still down overall.
While registrations grew for a third consecutive month, and were 13.2% up to 550 units in October, the market is still down 11% overall this year.
A year-to-date rise of 15.7% for purpose-built coaches was boosted by a 25.6% jump in registrations in October.
“This recent market strength follows a slow start to the year with registrations lower than 2012 given the Olympics boost last year”, said Hawes.
“While registrations for 2013 are still down 11% overall, we are encouraged by the recovery rate and the ongoing uptake of cleaner and more efficient vehicles.”