Commercial vehicle registrations are down 5.9% in 2012 to 285,343 units, December declined 15.8% to 19,384 registrations.

Van registrations are down 7.9% for the January-December period to 239,641 units, in December the market declined by 14.2%.

Truck registrations grew in 2012 up 6.4% to 45,702 units, but down 22.4% in the month to 3,579 units.

"While 2012 has been a challenging year for the UK commercial vehicle market with heavy trucks the only sector performing positively during the year," said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. "The commercial vehicle market ended 5.9% down on 2011 as business confidence wavered. Vans have struggled all year with just under 240,000 registered while truck volumes tailed-off towards the end of the year. We look forward to 2013 being a better year for the commercial vehicle market with a host of new products and innovative technologies boosting registrations."