Commercial vehicles: registrations down in May, up 1.3% five months into 2008

Five months into 2008, however, registrations were up 1.3%. In total, the EU27+EFTA* registered 227,415 new commercial vehicles in May and 1,170,339 over the year to May.

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

In May, the European market for vans decreased by 5.6% with 185,400 new vehicles registered. The French and the German markets were among the four posting growth (+10.8% and +2.9% respectively), together with the Dutch (+9.7%) and the Austrian (+3.0%) markets. Overall however, registrations in Western Europe decreased by 7.1%. The downturn however did not affect the markets in the new EU Member States as they registered 9.9% more vans in May, compared to last year. The biggest market was the Czech Republic, with 4,993 new registrations, closely followed by Poland, with 4,631 new vehicles recorded. The cumulative results from May to January reflected a more stable trend as markets in Europe decreased slightly by 0.4%. Four of the five major markets in Western Europe went up, improving their performance of last year with growths ranging from 0.9% to 9.1%. Only the Spanish market is on an unbroken downward trend since January (-24.3%).

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

While decreasing by 5.7% in May, European demand for new heavy trucks went up by 10.4% five months into the year, totaling 146,515 units since January. Over the month of May, markets in Western Europe registered 22,644 new vehicles, or 3.3% less than last year. However, the British, the French and the Italian markets posted growths ranging from 13.9% to 3.5%. Almost all new EU Member States saw their markets contract in May (-15.6%). Poland stood out with 1,847 new trucks registered. The cumulative figures since the beginning of the year are positive, increasing by 12% in Western Europe, by 2.5% in the new Member States and by 1.4% overall. Demand went up in the UK (+46.7%), France (29%), Italy (11.8%) and Poland (13.1%).

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

Results in this segment were similar to those in the category of heavy trucks. In total, 38,097 new trucks were registered in May, or 6.9% less than last year, and 197,928 from January to May, representing an increase of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2007. In May, markets in the UK (+23.1%) and France (+10.5%) posted growth, while Spain and Germany recorded a decrease of 23.1% and 6.4% respectively. The Italian and the Polish markets were stable, both slightly increasing by 0.3%. Five months into the year, registrations went down in Spain by 7.4% and in Germany by 3.2%. Still, the German market remained the largest. The UK posted the strongest increase (36.2%). Italy improved its performance by 8.4%, while France, with a 27% increase, was the second biggest market.

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

New demand for buses and coaches in Europe was 7.6% up in May and 24.4% higher over the first five months of the year compared to the same period in 2007. The UK stood out as the largest market and increased its performance by 24.1% from January to May. The second largest markets, France, Germany, Romania and Italy, all registered over 2,000 new buses and coaches, and posted growths ranging from 83.2% to 2.7%.