ACEA

COMMERCIAL VEHICLES: registrations decrease 12.3% in January

Brussels, 26/02/2010 - In January, new commercial vehicle registrations in the European Union* amounted to 123,527 units, or 12.3% less than in January 2009, and booking the 21st decline in a row. The month counted on average one working day less across the EU than January 2008. The category of heavy trucks was the most affected (-43.5%). France (+0.7%), Sweden (+4.7%), Italy (+8.4%), Ireland (+10.9%) and Portugal (+12.3%) were the only countries to start the year in the plus.

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

January results were down 5.2% compared to last year, totaling 105,522 new vans. Among the major markets, only France (+7.5%) and Italy (+21.8%) expanded. Germany and the UK were down 1.8% while the Spanish market contracted by 4.2%. The sharpest downturn was recorded in Romania (-90.3%) and the largest increase
posted in Ireland (+27.7%).

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

The segment of heavy trucks listed a 43.5% drop in new vehicle registrations in January, further reflecting the impact of the economic crisis and subsequent very low levels of demand last year. Only Lithuania and Slovenia performed slightly better, registering 30 and 19 vehicles more respectively. Elsewhere, the decrease ranged from
-2.4% in Spain to 89.1% in Bulgaria. Germany (-40.0%) was the largest market, followed by France (43.5%), Italy (-53.0%) and the UK (-59.5%). In total, 10,961 new units were registered.

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

New registrations of trucks dropped by 40.0% in January. With the exception of Lithuania (+15.6%), all markets contracted. Slovakia (-7.5%) and Spain (-8.0%) managed a single-digit contraction while the remaining markets decreased from -13.1% (Poland) to -70.3% (Bulgaria). Looking at the major markets, the downturn ranged from
-8.0% in Spain to -34.7% in Germany, -40.1% in France, -48.7% in Italy and -48.8% in the UK. Germany remained the largest market, registering 4,185 new trucks. In total, 15,756 new trucks were registered in the EU.

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

In January, 2,249 buses and coaches were registered, or 30.9% less than last year. The UK (-32.3%) registered the most vehicles, followed by France (-29.2%), Germany (-20.0%), Italy (-1.3%) and Spain (-23.6%).

* 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.

Go back