It has become a customary trend in the industrial vehicle market (at least in Italy): sales spike just before the introduction of new community regulations on vehicles. This rush to purchase trucks that still comply with the old regulations is evident. The mandate for ADAS safety systems, effective from early July 2024, was no exception, leading to a significant increase in Italian registrations of industrial vehicles over 3.5 tons in June 2024: 3,557 units registered, marking a year-on-year increase of 27.2%.
Focusing on the higher category vehicles, those with a total mass equal to or greater than 16 tons, the percentage increase is even higher: +30.4%. The light segment (up to 6 tons) also saw a significant rise, with +49% (although volumes here are considerably lower), while medium-sized vehicles (from 6.01 to 15.99 tons) experienced only a 2.8% increase. This growth boosted the registrations for the first half of 2024 to 16,798 units, an 11.2% increase compared to the same period the previous year.
"The June market, showing the highest volumes among the first six months of 2024, reflects a positive but largely predictable result in light of the entry into force of the GSR 2 Regulation and the consequent need for distribution networks to clear their vehicle stock," explains Paolo Starace, president of the Industrial Vehicles Section of Unrae. However, he predicts a significant market contraction in the following months.
Starace urged the Government to involve the manufacturers' representatives in ministerial roundtables dedicated to the sector, emphasizing the importance of their role in achieving environmental goals: "We must remember that automakers largely bear the costs of the transition, starting with the penalties for failing to meet the emission targets. In the current regulatory framework, these targets are not achieved through the use of alternative fuels but only through the adoption of zero or very low emission vehicles."
