The European Union’s commercial vehicle market weakened in the first half of 2025, with registrations falling across key segments. The decline reflects ongoing macroeconomic pressures and sluggish demand, despite modest gains in electric vehicle adoption, said the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).
The decline of internal combustion engine sales and the growing market share of electrified models is a double whammy for the continent’s lube blenders. Still, electrically chargeable models expanded their market share, their overall penetration remains limited due to infrastructure constraints and cost-related barriers.
Van registrations in the EU fell 13.2% during the period, with Germany, France and Italy all posting double-digit declines. Germany saw the sharpest drop at 14.7%, followed by France at 12% and Italy at 11.7%. Spain was the only major market to post growth, with registrations rising 11.2%.
Truck demand also softened, with overall EU registrations down 15.4% to 155,367 units. The decline was driven by a 14.5% fall in heavy-truck volumes and a 20% decrease in medium-truck registrations. Germany recorded the steepest drop at 27.5%, while France, Spain and Italy also reported double-digit contractions.
Bus registrations dropped as well, totaling 18,123 units. Italy posted the largest decline among major markets at 24.5%, followed by Spain at 10.7%, France at 8% and Germany at 3.2%. Smaller markets such as Sweden and Belgium recorded strong year-over-year growth.
Diesel remained the dominant fuel type for new vans, accounting for 82% of registrations, although volumes declined 15.6% year-over-year to 598,001 units. Electrically chargeable vans captured 9.5% of the market, up from 5.8% a year earlier. Petrol models accounted for 4.9%, reflecting a nearly 30% drop in registrations. Hybrid van volumes rose 7.1%, representing 2.6% of the market.
In the truck segment, diesel vehicles continued to dominate with a 93.6% market share, despite a 15.4% drop in volume. Electrically chargeable trucks gained traction, reaching a 3.6% share, up from 2.1% in the first half of 2024. The Netherlands led growth in this category, with volumes rising 187.6%, accounting for nearly one-fifth of EU electric truck registrations.
Electric bus registrations rose to 21.6% of the EU total, up from 16.4% a year earlier. Germany, the largest market by volume, saw registrations more than double. Belgium also reported gains, with 523 electric units registered compared to 110 in the previous year. Hybrid-electric buses declined 35.5%, representing 6.9% of the market, while diesel bus volumes fell 6.7%, bringing their share down to 64.7% from 66.2%.