The year 2017 has closed with 198,821 light commercial vehicles registered in Spain, an amount that represents an increase of 15.5% over 2016. Within this category, vans have been the type of vehicle with the highest volume of registrations: 112,767 records and an increase of 10.3% with respect to the previous year. In the month of December the registrations of these vehicles reached 16,212 units, which represented a decrease of 1.7% compared to the same month last year. In fiscal year 2017, the market for light commercial vehicles has had a notable boost in registrations. Thus, the vans, vans and pick-up, achieved double-digit growth rates. The highest percentages of growth were reached by vans weighing less than 2.8 tons, with a 33.6% increase, followed by pick-ups, with a 30.1% increase.
The good business economic climate, the notable increase in urban and metropolitan logistics driven by electronic commerce, and the pending renewal of the fleets, are some of the key factors that explain the growth of the registrations of this type of vehicles.
SALES BY CHANNELS
The business channel has had the greatest weight in the registrations of light commercial vehicles throughout 2017: 107,360 registrations and an increase of 15.5% compared to the previous year. In the month of December of the year 2017, the increase with respect to the same month of 2016 was of a mere 0.5% until reaching 8,993 registrations.
Regarding the channel for self-employed workers, the second with the highest weight in the market after companies, registered a growth of 13% in 2017, with a total of 66,207 registrations. With regard to their registrations in the month of December, these were: 16,078 units and a growth of 4.1% compared to December 2016.
The rent channel is the one that registered the highest percentage growth throughout the year 2017. With a total of 25,254 registered units, it grew 23% compared to the 2016 financial year. As regards the month of December 2017 , the 1,141 registered registrations, represented a setback of 33.4%.