Britain’s new truck market has shifted firmly into lower gear. New HGV registrations fell 14.7% in the second quarter of 2026, with 8,687 trucks joining UK roads according to the SMMT — pushing first-half demand down 8.9% to 18,158 units.
Where the decline landed
- Articulated trucks: down 12.4% to 3,832 units.
- Rigids: down 16.4% to 4,855 units.
- Bodywork tells the story: box vans (−36.6%) and curtainsiders (−26.4%) fell hard, while tippers (+12.7%) and refuse vehicles (+27.0%) bucked the trend — construction and municipal demand holding up as general haulage hesitates.
The zero-emission asterisk
Zero-emission HGV registrations actually rose 4.7% in the quarter to 90 units — lifting market share from 0.8% to a still-tiny 1.0%. Compare that with the roughly one-quarter zero-emission share in EU city buses, and the scale of the truck transition still ahead in the UK becomes obvious. Operators cite vehicle cost, charging infrastructure and residual-value uncertainty — the same three barriers as everywhere else.
Why the market is soft
Three strong post-pandemic years pulled replacement forward; now fleets are digesting. Add elevated financing costs and soft freight volumes, and holding vehicles a year longer becomes the rational move — which, as our TCO guide notes, is exactly when disciplined maintenance pays for itself.
Sources: SMMT, Transport + Energy
Cover photo: Alf van Beem via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
