Commercial registrations and activity

Policy changes drive strong light commercial registrations in June

10 Jul 2023

Our take on the latest Commercial registrations and activity (Mon 10 Jul 2023)

Used commercial registrations increased 100% in June (seasonally adjusted)

New commercial registrations increased 33% from May (seasonally adjusted)

Road user charge kilometres purchased for light vehicles rose 81%pa in June

There were 4,600 new commercial vehicle registrations in June, a 31% increase from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis. In addition, 919 used commercial vehicles were registered in June, which was double May’s total in seasonally adjusted terms.
New light commercial registrations totalled 4,088 in June, up 33% from May on a seasonally adjusted basis. There were 734 used light commercial vehicle registrations in June, a 113% increase from the previous month on a seasonally adjusted basis.
A 27% increase in new medium commercial registrations from May (seasonally adjusted) took the monthly registration total to 281 in June. With 244 registrations, growth in new very heavy commercials was less pronounced, at 5.0% from May on a seasonally adjusted basis.
There were 2.5m road user charge (RUC) kilometres purchased in June, a 74% increase from June 2022. Total RUC purchases exceeded the 2.3m kilometres purchased when the RUC discount was last removed in January 2023.
Light road user charge kilometres increased 81%pa, while heavy road user charge kilometres were up by 33%pa.

New light commercial registrations, monthly total (seasonally adjusted)

Commercial vehicle registrations were strong in June, particularly for new and used light commercials. The changes to the Clean Car Discount scheme announced in May became effective on 1 July, which likely drove pre-purchasing of light commercials in June.
The changes to the Discount scheme will generally mean higher penalties for registering higher-emissions commercial vehicles, and lower rebates for registering lower-emissions commercial vehicles. These changes incentivised any intended registrations of both new and used commercial vehicles to be brought forward to before 1 July.
The effect of pre-purchasing was more evident in light commercial vehicles because it is easier to purchase lighter vehicles at late notice, making light commercial registrations more responsive to last minute changes to government policy.
The spike in June is likely to be followed by softer months for registrations in July and August, which is consistent with the pattern after the introduction of the Clean Car Discount scheme on 1 April 2022.

Latest updates