HGV sales gather momentum
British demand for new heavy goods vehicles grew by 14.9% in the third quarter with 11,531 trucks joining Britain’s roads.
According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), this makes it the UK’s sixth consecutive quarter of growth and the greatest number of new HGV deliveries in any quarter since the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, uptake of electric and hydrogen trucks continues to rise, representing 0.8% of the market in the third quarter.
Truck registrations have now grown by 16.4% to 34,222 units so far this year, which is just five per cent below 2019 levels.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: “Britain’s sixth quarter of rising HGV rollout and increasing uptake of zero emission trucks this year underlines the sector’s strong position, with operators in all UK regions getting the latest fuel-efficient and very greenest models. The rate of zero emission truck uptake must increase, however, both drastically and soon – amid significant obstacles to the sector’s transition. With just one public HGV chargepoint in the UK, a national plan for public and depot infrastructure is urgently needed to make fleet decarbonisation a reality for all operators, now and in the long term.”
