ACEA

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES: registrations up 15.8% over 5 months

Brussels, 28/06/2011 - Demand for new commercial vehicles in the EU* increased by 25.1%** in May, compared to the same month last year, which counted on average 1.7 more working days. Spain was the only major market to record a downturn (-13.3%), while the UK (+17.2%), France (+32.2%) and Germany (+38.4%) all expanded.

From January to May, the EU* recorded a total of 835,539 new vehicles**, or 15.8% more** than over the same period a year ago. With the exception of Spain (-7.4%), all significant markets posted growth, from +12.4% in France to 26.3% in the UK and 28.2% in Germany.

New Light Commercial Vehicles up to 3.5t – “vans”

In May, new van registrations amounted to 146,350 units, or 21.5%** more than in May 2010. While the Spanish market declined by 18.3%, the British (+17.3%), French (+28.4%) and German (+36.0%) were all up.  Five months into the year, a total of 689,388 new vans was registered, or 11.3% more than in the first five months of last year. Spain saw the number of its new registrations decline (-12.8%), while France (+9.0%), Germany (+22.5%) and the UK (+26.7%) performed better than in the same period a year ago.

New Heavy Commercial Vehicles over 16t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – “heavy trucks”

May results in the segment of heavy trucks showed a strong increase in new registrations (+63.1%**), which totaled 21,463 units**. The UK (+43.1%), Spain (+45.6%) and Germany (+48.7%) performed similarly, while France saw its market increase by a considerable 87.4%. From January to May, 100,089 new heavy trucks** were registered in the region (+62.2%**). Growth prevailed across countries, except in Greece (-49.8%), ranging from 41.7% in Spain to 42.8% in the Netherlands, 50.4% in Germany, 67.7% in France and 71.6% in the UK.

New Commercial Vehicles over 3.5t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – “trucks”

The segment of trucks recorded 28,584 new registrations** in May in the EU*, or 50.8% more than in the same month last year. Strong growths were observed across markets, reaching 31.5% in the UK, 40.5% in Spain, 44.3% in Germany and 73.5% in France. Over the first five months, 132,525 new trucks were registered, or 49.2% more than in the same period in 2010. Germany (+45.1%) was the largest market, registering 40,470 new units, followed by France (+56.5%; 21,518 units), the UK (+40.8%; 14,807 units), Spain (+40.7%; 6,744 units) and the Netherlands (+38.0%; 5,974 units).

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

In May, demand for new buses and coaches was up 5.3%** in the EU*, sustained by the Spanish (+20.5%), German (+35.5%) and French (+47.6%) markets in particular. The UK was the only major market to decline (-40.0%). From January to May, new buses and coaches amounted to 13,626 units in a stable EU* market (+0.0%**). Spain posted a double-digit increase (+55.4%), while Germany grew by 6.7%, France slipped by 2.7% and the UK contracted by 30.4%.

* Data for Cyprus and Malta are unavailable

** Due to the unavailability of data from Italy since January 2011, figures reported for that country are an extrapolation made by data provider AAA. They are not actual market figures, hence the possibility of an error margin with regard to the EU totals. Italy usually accounts for 10 to 15% of the EU Commercial Vehicle market.

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