Key stats about the commercial vehicle market

20th February 2014

The number of commercial vehicles in the UK is shrinking steadily and now stands at 460,600, according to Motor Transport’s annual Overview Of The UK Commercial Vehicle Industry.  The average age of the HGV parc is 7.4 years.

There are also around 220,000 trailers in use, with annual sales expected to reach 17-18,000 in 2014.  Other key points from the report include:

• There were 80,894 CV O-licences in issue in 2013, continuing the decline in numbers.
• 10% of the vehicles and 54% of the licences are held by single-vehicle users. 29% of vehicles are controlled by 1% of licence holders.  Restricted or own-account operators constitute 52.4% of licences and 27.5% of vehicles.
• Fuel economy continues to improve.  A new truck running at 40 tonnes in 2005 could be expected to average 7.5mpg-8mpg; now it is more likely to be 9mpg.
• Despite the Services Producers Index showing marginal rate rises, 73% of FTA members surveyed said rates were static and 15% had seen falls.
• The next 12 months’ vehicle purchasing predictions are marginally up on the last 12 months.
• Reliability, price and fuel consumption are the most important factors when purchasing vehicles (this is consistent with previous research).

The report also noted that “there are fewer reasons now for operators to continue to replace vehicles at the traditional three to five-year mark, but one strong addition is the constant evolution in running costs. Later Euro-5 vehicles, benefitting from the R&D into Euro-6, are showing better fuel economy than even two-year old Euro-5 models, with some Euro-6 models setting fuel economy records.”

Meanwhile, the Road Haulage Association’s annual survey of average truck operating costs reports a 75% increase since the year 2000, while reported haulage rates have gone up by only 23%.  The overall cost increase recorded for all categories of vehicle, on average, was 1.5%, or 2.3% excluding fuel.