Commercial vehicles: registrations up 6% over three quarters

Three quarters into the year, the increase was 6.0% across categories, mainly supported by demand for vans. From January to September, a total of 1,300,429 new vehicles were registered in the EU*.

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

In September, new van registrations amounted to 141,713 units, or 14.6% more than in the same month last year. While the Italian market remained stable (-0.1%), the Spanish dropped by 2.8%, and the German (+20.6%), French (+21.7%) and British (+24.4%) performed similarly. Nine months into the year, the EU registered 1,098,104 new vans across the EU, or 8.6% more than over the same period in 2009. In absolute figures, France was the largest market (+12.1%), followed by the UK (+18.3%), Germany (+12.5%), Italy (+10.2%) and Spain (+14.1%).

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

September results in the segment of heavy trucks were boosted by growth in many of the major markets, including Spain (+18.2%), Germany (+29.6%), France (+43.4%) and Italy (+51.1%). Though registrations contracted in the UK (-14.3%) and the Netherlands (-11.2%), overall registrations in the EU* increased by 20.4%. From January to September, the EU* totaled 120,152 new truck registrations, or 5.5% less than in the first nine months of 2009. Among the major markets, Germany (+7.3%) and Spain (+12.9%) performed better than last year. Italy (-7.7%), the UK (-13.8%), France (-14.7%) and the Netherlands (-30.5%) all faced a downturn.

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

In September, registrations of trucks were up 12.7%, with Spain (+7.1%), Germany (+32.2%), France (+35.0%) and Italy (+38.3%) mainly contributing to the upturn. New registrations dropped in the Netherlands (-16.8%) and the UK (-29.0%). In total, 26,187 new trucks were registered in the month, or 12.7% more than in September 2009. Three quarters into the year, Germany (+7.8%) and Spain (+6.2%) were the only major markets to post growth, leading to a general 4.9% downturn across the region. New truck registrations were down 8.8% in Italy, 12.0% in France, 15.3% in the UK and 29.1% in the Netherlands.

New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

The segment of buses and coaches was the only one to decline in September. Negative results in France (-35.7%), the UK (-11.1%) and Spain (-2.2%) led to an overall 10.4% downturn. Only Italy (+34.3%) and Germany (+26.3%) registered more vehicles than in the same month a year ago. Cumulative figures from January to September showed a 12.3% drop. The growth recorded in Sweden (+49.7%) and Italy (+20.4%) did not counterbalance the decrease noted in Germany (-8.8%), the UK (-9.6%), France (-20.1%) and Spain (-20.7%).