Mobility Sweden, the Automotive Association for Sweden has released its monthly registrations figures for the automotive park in the country.
Bus Sector Taking Strides Towards Pre-Pandemic Activity
According to the latest figures released by Mobility Sweden, 2,983 light commercial vehicles (vehicles weighing up to 3 tonnes) were registered in May 2022, which is 7% ahead of the previous year. The year-to-date figures highlight that the sector is 23.4% down after the first 5 months of 2022. 9% (269 units) of the registrations were electric trucks taking the year-to-date tally up to 1,360 total units ahead of the 879 for the previous first five months of the year.
The picture was similar for the heavy truck segment (trucks over 16 tonnes) with monthly increases eating into the year-to-date deficit with 510 registrations making for a 3.9% increase on May 2021. As suggested, the year-to-date scenario puts 2022 11.1% in arrears to 2021.
Mobility Sweden has explained that the high malus for light trucks has meant that many customers have kept their vehicles for up to 60 months instead of 36, which partly explains the year-t-date decrease so far. As well as this, the need to renew fleets and with order books being full, the situation has been affected further. As of June 1 2022, the Malus has been sharpened yet further, but Mobility Sweden claims that the market hasn't seen the same upswing in registrations as in March 2021 before the previous Malus increase. Another contributing factor is one which we have seen across European markets is a lack of semi-conductors and components with deliveries unable to meet demand.
Further to this, increased vehicle tax from June 1 on newly registered large vehicles will hit light commercial vehicles hard where the transition to electric hasn't occurred as fast according to Mobility Sweden. An added complexity for the market is the war in Ukraine and shutdowns in China which continues to impact heavy truck production.
The bus sector continues to regain ground with 260 registrations in May with 36 being electric as the market sees a year-on-year 188.9% improvement. This has helped the sector to be 25.3% up in year-to-date terms. Mobility Sweden claims these increases can be traced to "public procurement and that travel is beginning to increase as the pandemic subsides."
