Sales new lorries pick up

After three years of slumping sales, an increase in commercial vehicle sales was recorded during the first nine months of 2015. The number of sales of new lorries and tractor units for semitrailers grew noticeably. According to Statistics Netherlands (CBS), the current economic recovery fuelled sales.

In the first three quarters of 2015, more than 7 thousand tractor units were sold, i.e. a rise by 53 percent relative to the same period last year. Sales of new lorries surged by 47 percent to nearly 2,800.

Nearly 56 thousand new commercial vehicles

Between January and the end of September 2015, nearly 56 thousand new commercial vehicles were purchased, 16 percent more than in the same period last year. Over the past three years, new commercial vehicle sales had fallen by 13 percent.

In addition to new vehicles, 140 thousand second-hand commercial vehicles were sold, almost as many as last year, but with 196 thousand, the number of commercial vehicles sold in the period January-September is still well below the pre-crisis level of 2008, when 240 thousand commercial vehicles were sold in the first nine months.