ACEA

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES: EU registrations up 1.2% four months into the year

Brussels, 27/05/2010 - In April , with a total of 146,974 new registrations, results in the EU* rose by 9.1% compared to April last year, posting a second month of growth, and reflecting mostly a increase in registrations in the segment of light commercial vehicles. Compared to April 2008, overall new commercial vehicles registrations were down by 37.3%. With the same number of working days across the region in April, no calendar effect occurred. Four months into the year, the EU* registered 579,192 new commercial vehicles, or 1.2% more than over the same period a year ago, and 36.7% less than in 2008.

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

The van segment was the main contributor to the positive results in April, recording 124,704 new registrations, or 13.7% more than a year ago. Major markets all posted growth, from +34.5% in Spain and +31.2% in France, making it the largest market in April, to 19.2% in Germany, 6.4% in the UK and 2.6% in Italy. From January to April, France (+13.1%) remained the biggest market, followed by Italy (+19.8%), the UK (+11.7%), Germany (+9.9%) and Spain (+20.7%). 496,618 new vans were registered over the period, or 6.2% more than in the first
four months of 2009.

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

In April, new heavy truck registrations declined by 11.0% in the EU with 13,421 new vehicles registered. Among the largest markets, only Spain posted growth (+12.1%). The Netherlands (-29.4%), Italy (-16.0%), France (-10.5%), Germany (-6.1%), the UK (-6.1%) and Poland** (-5.5%) all saw their markets contract. Four months into the year, the segment amounted to 48,096 new vehicles, representing a decline of 25.7%. With the exception of Poland** (+1.5%) and Spain (+1.9%), most of the larger markets recorded negative results, ranging from -42.9% in the Netherlands to -33.0% in France, -32.7% in Belgium, -27.7% in Italy, -26.5% in the UK and -18.5% in Germany.

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

April results show an 11.3% decrease in the registrations of new trucks which amounted to 19,501 units. Spain (+2.8%) and Poland** (+2.4%) performed equally and posted growth while the remaining major markets lost
ground compared to last year. France and Germany saw their registrations drop by 3.7% and 6.6% respectively while the UK (-17.2%) and Italy (-17.6%) recorded a double-digit downturn. While Poland** remained stable (+0.3%) from January to April, all the other important markets were down, from -2.4% in Spain to -41.1% in the Netherlands. Germany (-13.8%), France (-27.0%) and the UK (-22.5%) were the largest markets. Truck registrations amounted to 71,840 units, decreasing by 21.9% compared to last year.

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

New bus and coach registrations fell by 11.6% in April, totaling 2,769 units. Of the major markets, only the Italian posted growth (+53.8%), while the French remained stable (+0.0%), and the British (-13.9%), German (-18.6%)
and Spanish (-34.8%) shrank. From January to April, the UK (-6.0%) registered the most buses and coaches, followed by France (-11.6%), Germany (-15.3%), Italy (+14.8%) and Spain (-33.5%). Overall, 10,734 new vehicles were registered, or 13.7% less than over the same period last year.

* Data for Cyprus and Malta are unavailable
** Sales figures

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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