Overall in 2021, 90.2% of all light commercial vehicles registered in the EU ran on diesel, while petrol vans accounted for 3.8% of the market. Total new van sales increased last year, which resulted in higher volumes for all fuel types, but especially electric and hybrid vans. Electrically-chargeable vehicles made up 3.0% of van registrations across the European Union last year (compared to 2.0% in 2020), while hybrid vans accounted for 1.6% (up from 0.9%).
In 2021, demand for diesel vans grew by 6.2% to 1,408,376 units. Despite this increase in sales, diesel’s market share decreased from 92.4% in 2020 to 90.2% in 2021 across the region. The four main EU markets posted mixed results. Italy saw the highest percentage increase (+8.6%), followed by France (+4.0%). Spain and Germany, on the other hand, saw a decrease in demand for diesel (-4.7% and -3.6% respectively).
The number of petrol vans registered increased to 58,757 units last year, up 20.5% compared to 2020. As a result, the share of petrol increased from 3.4% to 3.8% of EU sales. Among the major markets, France (+43.2%) and Germany (+25.7%) posted double-digit gains, while Spain recorded a decline (-24.1%).
Last year, sales of new electrically-chargeable vehicles (ECV) – which include both battery-electric vans and plug-in hybrids – grew by 63.2% across the EU1 to reach 46,853 vans sold. This strong double-digit growth resulted in an increase of market share from 2.0% in 2020 to 3.0% in 2021. ECV sales went up by 237.8% in Italy, 55.5% in Spain, 44.9% in Germany and 39.8% in France.
Looking at full-year figures for 2021, sales of hybrid electric vans (HEV) jumped by 101.5% to 25,496 units, with the market share of hybrid light commercial vehicles growing from 0.9% in 2020 to 1.6% last year. Among the major EU markets, France posted the highest gain (+155.2%), followed by Italy (+129.2%), Germany (+67.6%) and Spain (+12.7%).
Registrations of vans running on alternative fuels2 increased by 10.2% in 2021 to reach 21,340 units sold across the EU. Out of the four big markets, only Germany saw a decrease (-3.2%). Overall, the share of alternative-fuel vehicles in new sales remained stable and accounted for 1.4% of the European market (compared to 1.3% in 2020).
Source: ACEA
