ACEA

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES: registrations up 6% over three quarters

Brussels, 26/10/2010 - In September, registrations of new commercial vehicles rose by 13.7% in the EU*. All segments posted growth, except for buses (-10.4%). Three quarters into the year, the increase was 6.0% across categories, mainly supported by demand for vans. From January to September, a total of 1,300,429 new vehicles were registered in the EU*.

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

In September, new van registrations amounted to 141,713 units, or 14.6% more than in the same month last year. While the Italian market remained stable (-0.1%), the Spanish dropped by 2.8%, and the German (+20.6%), French (+21.7%) and British (+24.4%) performed similarly.
Nine months into the year, the EU registered 1,098,104 new vans across the EU, or 8.6% more than over the same period in 2009. In absolute figures, France was the largest market (+12.1%), followed by the UK (+18.3%), Germany (+12.5%), Italy (+10.2%) and Spain (+14.1%).

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

September results in the segment of heavy trucks were boosted by growth in many of the major markets, including Spain (+18.2%), Germany (+29.6%), France (+43.4%) and Italy (+51.1%). Though registrations contracted in the UK (-14.3%) and the Netherlands (-11.2%), overall registrations in the EU* increased by 20.4%.
From January to September, the EU* totaled 120,152 new truck registrations, or 5.5% less than in the first nine months of 2009. Among the major markets, Germany (+7.3%) and Spain (+12.9%) performed better than last year. Italy (-7.7%), the UK (-13.8%), France (-14.7%) and the Netherlands (-30.5%) all faced a downturn.

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

In September, registrations of trucks were up 12.7%, with Spain (+7.1%), Germany (+32.2%), France (+35.0%) and Italy (+38.3%) mainly contributing to the upturn. New registrations dropped in the Netherlands (-16.8%) and the UK (-29.0%). In total, 26,187 new trucks were registered in the month, or 12.7% more than in September 2009.
Three quarters into the year, Germany (+7.8%) and Spain (+6.2%) were the only major markets to post growth, leading to a general 4.9% downturn across the region. New truck registrations were down 8.8% in Italy, 12.0% in France, 15.3% in the UK and 29.1% in the Netherlands.

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

The segment of buses and coaches was the only one to decline in September. Negative results in France (-35.7%), the UK (-11.1%) and Spain (-2.2%) led to an overall 10.4% downturn. Only Italy (+34.3%) and Germany (+26.3%) registered more vehicles than in the same month a year ago.
Cumulative figures from January to September showed a 12.3% drop. The growth recorded in Sweden (+49.7%) and Italy (+20.4%) did not counterbalance the decrease noted in Germany (-8.8%), the UK (-9.6%), France (-20.1%) and Spain (-20.7%).

* Data for Cyprus and Malta are unavailable

NB: Commencing with the January 2010 new commercial vehicle registrations figures, the ACEA data sheet will provide new vehicle registrations in alphabetical order for the countries of the European Union, and no longer separate for Western-Europe (15) and new EU Member States (10)*. Results for the EFTA countries will continue to be reported separately. The monthly press releases will quote the ‘EU’ figures first, followed by the ‘total Europe’ figures, adding up the EU and EFTA figures.

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