Commercial vehicles: 6.6% increase in new registrations from January to October

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%, mainly lifted by demand for vans. New registrations from January to October totaled 1,453,202 units.

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

In October, 125,914 new vans were registered in the EU*, or 7.4% more than in the same month last year. Looking at the major markets, France (+16.0%), Germany (+16.2%) and the UK (+22.3%) posted a solid increase while the results in Italy (-6.1%) and Spain (-14.9%) were negative. From January to October, the EU* totaled 1,224,023 new van registrations, or 8.5% more than over the same period a year ago. France (+12.5%) remained the largest market, followed by the UK (+18.7%), Germany (+12.9%), Italy (+8.4%) and Spain (+10.6%).

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

In the segment of heavy trucks, October results in the EU* were 53.7% higher than in October 2009, with 16,628 new vehicles registered. All major markets posted growth, ranging from 27.3% in Italy to 33.2% in the UK, 46.2% in France, 48.5% in Spain and 68.9% in Germany. Ten months into the year, new heavy truck registrations amounted to 135,792 units, or 1.4% less than in the first ten months of last year. Performance in the main markets was diverse with Germany (+12.4%) and Spain (+17.8%) expanding while Italy (-4.8%), France (-9.9%) and the UK (-17.4%) declined.

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

In October, registrations of trucks were up 47.7%. The Netherlands (+89.4%), the UK (+79.9%) and Germany (+60.3%) recorded the largest increase among the most significant markets. France (+34.7%), Spain (+28.0%) and Italy (+11.4%) also performed better than in the same month last year. From January to October, the EU* market remained stable (-0.6%). Germany (+12.3%) and Spain (+9.0%) posted growth, while Italy (-7.0%), France (-8.2%), the UK (-9.8%) and the Netherlands (-23.7%) saw their markets contract.

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

The segment of buses and coaches was the only one to decline in October. Despite growth recorded in Italy (+17.3%), Germany (19.4%) and Spain (+84.6%), the negative results in France (-6.0%) and the UK (-37.5%) led to an overall 5.8% decrease in the EU*. Cumulative figures from January to October showed an 11.8% drop. Italy (+20.1%) was the only major market to expand as downturn prevailed elsewhere, ranging from -6.1% in Germany to -12.1% in the UK, -14.2% in Spain and -19.0% in France.