Commercial vehicle sales still rising in Europe

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- In October, new commercial vehicle registrations rose by 12 percent, continuing an upward trend commenced in March. The increase occurred in all segments, except for buses and coaches. Ten months into the year, the EU* market of commercial vehicles expanded by 6.6 percent, mainly lifted by demand for vans. New registrations from January to October totaled 1,453,202 units.

In the heavy vehicle segment, registrations in the first ten months amounted to 135,792 units, or 1.4 percent less than in the first ten months of last year. Performance in the main markets was diverse with Germany (+12.4 percent) and Spain (+17.8 percent) expanding while Italy (-4.8 percent), France (-9.9 percent) and the UK (-17.4 percent) declined.

In October, however, results in the EU* were 53.7 percent higher than in October 2009, with 16,628 new vehicles registered. All major markets posted growth, ranging from 27.3 percent in Italy to 33.2 percent in the UK, 46.2 percent in France, 48.5 percent in Spain and 68.9 percent in Germany.

In medium trucks, the EU* market remained stable (-0.6 percent) over the first 10 months. Germany (+12.3 percent) and Spain (+9.0 percent) posted growth, while Italy (-7.0 percent), France (-8.2 percent), the UK (-9.8 percent) and the Netherlands (-23.7 percent) saw their markets contract.

In October, registrations of trucks were up 47.7 percent. The Netherlands (+89.4 percent), the UK (+79.9 percent) and Germany (+60.3 percent) recorded the largest increase among the most significant markets. France (+34.7 percent), Spain (+28.0 percent) and Italy (+11.4 percent) also performed better than in the same month last year.

For light trucks or vans, the first ten months saw EU registrations total 1,224,023 new registrations, or 8.5 percent more than over the same period a year ago. France (+12.5 percent) remained the largest market, followed by the UK (+18.7 percent), Germany (+12.9 percent), Italy (+8.4 percent) and Spain (+10.6 percent).

In October, 125,914 new vans were registered in the EU, or 7.4 percent more than in the same month last year. Looking at the major markets, France (+16.0 percent), Germany (+16.2 percent) and the UK (+22.3 percent) posted a solid increase while the results in Italy (-6.1 percent) and Spain (-14.9 percent) were negative.

The segment of buses and coaches, cumulative figures from January to October showed an 11.8 percent drop. Italy (+20.1 percent) was the only major market to expand as downturn prevailed elsewhere, ranging from -6.1 percent in Germany to -12.1 percent in the UK, -14.2 percent in Spain and -19.0 percent in France.

This segment was the only one to decline in October. Despite growth recorded in Italy (+17.3 percent), Germany (19.4 percent) and Spain (+84.6 percent), the negative results in France (-6.0 percent) and the UK (-37.5 percent) led to an overall 5.8 percent decrease in the EU.

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Press release from ACEA