The data shows a 12.4% rise for the year as a whole, marking the third year of growth. In total, 2,079,322 units were registered.. During the year, Spain (+36.4%) showed the most significant increase, followed by the UK (+16.7%), Italy (+13.2%), Germany (+4.3%) and France (+3.1%) – all performing better than 2014.

Demand was particularly strong in December with a 14.8% rise to 191,826 units for the month. Growth was significantly sustained across all commercial vehicle segments. Italy (+23.2%), Spain (+23.0%), the UK (+20.3%) ended the year extremely strong by posting double digit percentage gains in December, followed by France (+9.4%) and Germany (+8.7%).

For new light commercial vehicles (LCV) up to 3.5 tonnes, 2015 saw 1,713,850 new vans registered in the EU – up 11.6%. All major markets saw their demand for vans increase over the year, in particular Spain (+36.1%), the UK (+15.6%) and Italy (+12.4%).

For December, new registrations of light commercial vehicles totalled 160,518 units, up (+13.5%) compared to December 2014. This marked the 28th consecutive month of growth in the segment. Italy (+23.9%), Spain (+23.8%), the UK (+14.6%), France (+8.7%) and Germany (+5.6%) all positively contributed to this upturn.

For new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5 tonnes, 325,689 new trucks (+16.2%) were registered in the EU for 2015. Looking at the five major markets, Spain (+38.4%), the UK (+24.5%), Italy (+21.3%) and France (+10.3%) posted the highest increases over the year.

In December 2015, new truck registrations in the EU totalled 27,315 units, up (+23.7%) compared to December 2014. The UK market finished the year strongly (+75.6%) after showing decline in October. Also Spain (+19.5%), Germany (+19.5%), France (+13.2%) and Italy (+10.1%) showed large upturns at the end of 2015.

Within the sector for new heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) over 16 tonnes, the 2015 market was up by 19.4%, reaching 260,135 units. Spain (+38.7%), the UK (+32.1%), Italy (+25.3%), France (+12.7%) and Germany (+5.3%) saw demand for heavy trucks increase, supporting the overall upturn in the region. Noteworthy are the positive contributions from the Netherlands (+34.4%) and Poland (+31.7%).

December 2015 results show a significant uplift in the heavy truck segment (+22.4%), which saw 20,839 new vehicles being registered. The UK (+97.1%) largely contributed to this positive outcome, almost doubling its registrations compared to December 2014.