New commercial vehicle registrations were up 7.7% in the EU in October, amounting to 162,901 units—reflecting similar results in France (+7.8%) and Germany (+7.2%), the largest EU markets—according to the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association.
The UK also contributed positively (+11.1%). From January to October, Spain was the only major market to contract (-4.9%). Germany (+19.5%), the UK (+17.8%) and France (5.5%) all posted growth, leading to an overall 10.8% increase.
A breakdown:
New Heavy Commercial Vehicles over 16t (excluding Buses & Coaches)–“heavy trucks”The segment of heavy trucks recorded an increase of 18.2% in the EU, as a total of 21,552 new vehicles was registered across the region where growth prevailed. Germany was the only market to shrink (-6.4%), while all other important markets posted double-digit growths ranging from 22.0% in Spain to 25.2% in France and 34.4% in the UK. Over ten months, the EU registered 197,078 new heavy trucks, or 40.8% more than in the same period a year ago. With the only exception of Greece (-65.8%), all markets expanded. The major ones saw their new registrations rise by 25.9% (Spain), 27.1% (Germany), 45.9% (the UK) and 49.4% (France).
New Commercial Vehicles over 3.5t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – “trucks”New truck registrations increased by 15.7% in the EU, amounting to 28,115 units. Despite a 3.2% downturn, Germany remained the largest market, followed by France (+27.3%), the UK (+29.9%) and Spain (+20.8%). From January to October, 262,216 new trucks were registered across the EU, or 32.4% more than in the same period in 2010. All major markets posted growth. The increase was 23.9% in Germany, 24.8% in Spain, 30.8% in the UK and 43.7% in France.
New Light Commercial Vehicles up to 3.5t – “vans”
Demand for vans grew by 5.8%, with 131,482 new registrations. France (+4.7%), the UK (+6.7%) and Germany (+12.5%) saw their markets expand. Spain was the only major one to decline (- 5.0%). Ten months into the year, the number of new van registrations in the EU amounted to 1,308,741 units, or 7.5% more than in the same period last year. France recorded 2.1% more vehicles and remained the largest market, followed by the UK (+17.3%) and Germany (+18.3%) which performed similarly. Spain faced an 8.7% downturn.