Global demand for heavy commercial vehicles exceeded 1.7 million units during the first six months of the 2010 calendar year, an increase of nearly 50 percent from the comparable period in 2009, according to R.L. Polk & Co.
Heavy commercial vehicles are defined as vehicles designed and equipped to carry a payload greater than 3.5 tons.

While demand for heavy commercial vehicles in the United States and Canada is slowly improving over industry declines since 2007, demand for heavy commercial vehicles in the rest of the world, especially in China and India, is increasing at a significant rate, the company says. Approximately 88 percent of the demand for these vehicles is outside of the United States and Canada.

The increase in demand for the first six months of 2010 versus the same period last year is a result of strong heavy commercial vehicle demand in a variety of markets, including: India (+84 percent), China (+66 percent) and Russia (+65 percent). Brazil had an increase in demand for heavy commercial vehicles of 64 percent versus the same five month period of 2009 (six month data is unavailable).

Other top markets include Indonesia, South Korea, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

Chinese manufacturers led the market with four of the top five brands in the first six months of 2010, in the following order: Dongfeng Motor Group, followed by JAC Wanfa Limited, First Auto Works (FAW) and China National Heavy Duty Truck Group (HOWO). The fifth manufacturer is India-based Tata. The first Western manufacturer to be included in the ranking was Mercedes-Benz at number six.