European truck sales fall for 18th consecutive month

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- New commercial vehicle registrations in Europe have declined for a year and a half now, dropping by 30.7% last month compared to October 2008. From January to October 2009, results were 35.3% below the level over the same period in 2008, with a total of 1,417,255 new vehicles registered.

Registrations in the heavy truck segment fell by 56.8% in October. The decline was 55.4% in Western Europe and 65.1% in the new EU Member States. Among the largest markets, the Netherlands (-74.4%) recorded the steepest downturn, followed by the UK (-69.2%), Italy (-60.2%), France (-57.0%), Spain (-54.2%) and Germany (-41.9%). Ten months into the year, new registrations of heavy trucks totaled 145,833 units, or 47.7% less compared to the same period last year. Germany remained the biggest market despite a 41.8% drop, closely followed by France (-40.6%), while the UK performed best with a downturn of -32.9%.

October registrations in the truck segment were down 52.0% in Western Europe and 62.0% in the new EU Member States, resulting in an overall 53.4% decrease. Results in the largest markets ranged from -42.5% in Germany to -49.1% in Spain, -53.8% in Italy, -54.1% in France and -63.4% in the UK. In the new EU Member States, the Polish market contracted by 48.9%. January to October results show a 44.5% decline with a total of 212,983 units registered. The market in France (-37.3%) mirrored developments in the UK (-37.5%) and Germany (-37.6%) while Italy (-44.8%) and Spain (-65.8%) registered a steeper downturn. In the new EU Member States, Poland recorded -59.8% and the Czech Republic -56.4%.

In October, European registrations of small commercial vehicles, or vans totaled 121,743 new vans, or 25.5 % less than a year ago. As was the case in all vehicle categories, the downturn hit the new EU Member States (-53.5%) harder than Western Europe (-21.7%). Looking at the major markets, Spain fared the best (-6.6%) while Italy (-14.3%), the UK (-18.7%), Germany (-20.7%) and France (-22.6%) faced double-digit declines. In the new EU Member States, the decrease ranged from -6.0% in Slovenia to -31.8% in Poland, -42.4% in Slovakia, -57.1% in Romania and -78.6% in the Czech Republic. From January to October, new registrations decreased by 33.7%, composed of a drop of 31.5% in Western Europe and of 51.5% in the new EU Member States. France (-23.0%) registered most new light commercial vehicles, followed by Italy (-25.2%), Germany (-25.7%), the UK (-39.2%) and Spain (-41.7%). The market contracted by 27.9% in Poland and by 66.9% in the Czech Republic.

New bus and coach registrations decreased by 30.7% in October. The UK (-18.7%) proved to be the largest market, followed by France (-11.3%) and Germany (-24.2%). Over ten months, France was the only major market to expand (+7.0%). Germany (-9.6%), the UK (-14.5%), Spain (-23.2%) and Italy (-26.0%) were down. Overall, results in Europe* were down by 18.5%

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Press release from ACEA (Belgium)