The Swedish light truck market saw a dip of 3.5% with 2,074 light trucks weighing up to 3.5 tonnes registered in January, while trucks over 16 tonnes saw a bigger decline of 25.1% as buses scored a loss of -41.2%, in a subdued start to 2021 according to figures released by BIL Sweden.
Market Starts Year in Decline
Acknowledging that fleets need to renew their fleets, Mattias Bergman, CEO of BIL Sweden, explains that the lack of semiconductors and other components that affected production and deliveries last year, has resulted in demand still not being met.
Electric light trucks are starting to gain traction, with more brands on the market and growing interest amongst customers due to the Bonus Malus package. There were 235 electric light trucks sold in January, making for an 11% share of the market.
For heavy trucks, that is to say vehicles over 16 tonnes saw 289 units registered, whereas, last January, the total was 386, representing a 25.1% decrease. Trucks between 6-16 tonnes also saw a 48.4% drop, with sales dropping to 16 units against 31 units from the year before. In the same vein as we have seen in the light truck sector, Bergman cites a lack of components and production disruptions which is continuing to damage confidence within the market.
In total, there were 2,385 light and heavy truck sales for January 2022, which constitutes a 7.2% drop, as January 2021 clocked up a total of 2,571 units.
Buses saw a bigger 41% decline for the month. In January 2021, there were 102 sales whereas this January saw 60 units sold. Part of the reason for the differing figures is due to a substantial segment of bus sales being made by regional procurement. The procurement changes month to month according to each region’s requirement for new buses. Of the 60 registrations, 17% of those units were electric buses.
The year ahead, however, is positive for BIL Sweden. Mattias Bergman explains, “The industry as a whole is positive in the assessment of 2022 as demand is strong. Given that we are overcoming the component shortcomings, this year’s forecast is 44,000 light trucks,” says Mattias Bergman.
