European truck markets continue to fall

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- New commercial vehicle registrations in Europe decreased in February by 3.1 percent, with a total of 121,510 units in the EU. While heavy duty registrations continued to decline, light commercial vehicle registrations increased for the first time since April 2008. Two months into the year, total commercial vehicle registrations were down 7.9 percent, with less than 245,000 new vehicles registered. Spain (+7.4 percent), Sweden (8.7 percent), Portugal (+10.8 percent), Italy (+14.9 percent) and Ireland (+26.1 percent) were the only countries to post growth. With the same average number of working days across the region in February, no calendar effect occurred.

In February, the segment of vans recorded a 1.6 percent increase in new registrations. From January to February, the market remained down (-1.9 percent) compared to the same period in 2009. Looking at the major markets, registrations were up 23.9 percent in Italy, 10.5 percent in Spain, 8.8 percent in the UK, 3.2 percent in France and 0.5 percent in Germany. The biggest increase was recorded in Ireland (+42.5 percent), while Sweden (+21.6 percent), Portugal (+19.1 percent), Greece (+6.6 percent) and Luxembourg (+2.1 percent) performed better than last year. Elsewhere, the downturn ranged from -7.2 percent in Slovenia to -77.2 percent in the Czech Republic.

The segment of heavy trucks registered the sharpest drop (-31.4 percent) recorded in February. Ireland (+8.6 percent), Poland** (+14.8 percent) and Slovakia (+59.3 percent) were the only countries to post growth. Germany, although down 24.6 percent, remained the largest market, registering 2,400 new trucks in the month, followed by France (-42.6 percent). All the other significant markets for trucks were also down. From January to February, new truck registrations declined by 39.6 percent. The only three countries in the plus were Poland** (+5.3 percent), Slovakia (+34.6 percent) and Lithuania (+63.8 percent). Germany recorded the most vehicles, although its market contracted by 33.5 percent. Spain limited the downturn to -4.7 percent while Italy saw its market contract by 38.4 percent, France by 43.1 percent, the Netherlands by 46.5 percent and the UK by 53.6 percent.

February results in the category of trucks show a decrease of 26.7 percent. Two months into the year, results were down 34.2 percent. The sharpest decline was noted in Denmark (-62.9 percent). The Dutch market contracted by 48.9 percent, the British by 43.7 percent, the French by 38.6 percent, the Italian by 35.2 percent, the German by 26.6 percent, the Spanish by 7.7 percent and the Polish by 2.0 percent.

New bus and coach registrations were down 14.1 percent in February. While the French market posted a 5.6 percent growth and the Italian was stable at -0.6 percent, both remaining the largest markets in the segment, the German market dropped by 13.2 percent, the British by 30.6 percent and the Spanish by 41.4 percent. Cumulative results from January to February show a 23.0 percent downturn as the major markets contracted, from -0.9 percent in Italy to -13.7 percent in France, -17.0 percent in Germany, -31.6 percent in the UK and -32.0 percent in Spain.

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Press release from ACEA