The Chinese players struggle in the European Commercial Vehicles market

• The European CV market is up by 2.3% during the first quarter.
• Marginal market share for the Chinese makers.
• Registrations of electric CVs post big progress.

Frankfurt, Germany – The European new commercial vehicles market started the year with positive results. According to the information from Dataforce for 30 markets across the region (EU-26 plus UK, Norway, Switzerland, and Iceland), the volume of new CVs registered increased by 2.3% during the first three months of this year to 542,102 units. The total is 12,255 units above the one recorded in Q1 2025.

The growth was mainly driven by strong results in Spain and Poland, the fifth and sixth largest markets, respectively. There were also double-digit increases in Ireland, Austria, Sweden, Czechia, Greece, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Estonia, and Latvia.

Moreover, the increasing demand is happening in the heavy commercial vehicle subsegment. The combined data for N2 and N3 segments shows that even if they counted for 18% of the total registrations of CV, their volume increased by 12% compared to Q12025. These are for sure good news considering that the demand of these vehicles – mainly buses and heavy trucks – is an indicator of how the economy is performing.

The marginal role of China.

In contrast to what it is happening in the passenger cars market, the Chinese makers do not play a big role in the CV one. While their registrations increased by 3.4% between Q1 2025 and Q1 2026, their market share continued to be marginal at just 1.36%.

The result is not only bad, but it does not show any progress compared to last year. The information indicates that the Chinese CVs market share during the first three months of 2025 was 1.35%. It means there has not been any progress at all.

Maxus leads the way among the Chinese players with 4,100 units, or 56% of the total. Others like BYD or DFSK posted double-digit drops. Basically, the segment continues to buy the traditional brands while the Chinese continued to focus their efforts on gaining traction in the passenger cars segments.

One reason that explains this lack of interest from the Chinese CV brands on Europe is the regulation. More than the tariffs on EVs that are more likely to hit the passenger cars coming from China, the homologation process can become a trade barrier. According to it, any Chinese commercial vehicle sold in Europe must comply with the WVTA – Whole Vehicle Type Approval. The requirements go from crash safety standards up to cybersecurity, meaning that many of the Chinese CV players, particularly the smallest ones, can’t meet the regulation.

EVs soar despite the Chinese absence.

China has led the way when it is about electrification. It is not the case in the European CV segment. A total of 51,676 electric commercial vehicles were registered in Europe through March, making up 9.5% of the total market. If the plug-in hybrids are added, the EV market share totaled 12%.

The registrations of the electrified commercial vehicles increased by 37% compared to Q1 2025. The growth would have been even higher if it wasn’t because of the contribution of the Chinese models that posted a 3.2% decline. In fact, their market share within the electrified CVs segment fell from 6% in Q1 2025 to 4.2% this year.

Ford continued to lead this growing segment with more than 19,000 electrified commercial vehicles registered, or more than doubling the sales in Q1 2025. The good results of the Ford Ranger PHEV explain part of this growth. Other protagonists include the Kia PV5, as the fourth best-selling electrified CV, the Volkswagen Transporter, and the electric Ford Transit Courier.

You can find out more about the development of the Heavy Commercial Vehicles market in Europe in April 2026 by clicking here.