European heavy truck sales down by 47 percent in nine months

ERJ staff report (DS)

Brussels -- New commercial vehicle registrations in Europe were down 27.7 percent in September compared to the same month in 2008, declining for the seventeenth consecutive month. Three quarters into the year, Europe totaled 1,270,241 new vehicle registrations, or 35.6 percent less than in the first nine months of last year.

Three quarters into the year, new heavy truck registrations were down 47.3 percent in Europe. Western Europe recorded a 43.0 percent fall compared to the same period last year. The Netherlands (-30.0 percent), the UK (-37.7 percent), France (-38.5 percent), Germany (-41.8 percent), Italy (-49.6 percent) and Spain (-72.2 percent) all recorded a decrease. In the new EU Member States, Poland (-67.2 percent) and the Czech Republic (-61.4 percent) saw their markets contract the least compared to the other countries in the region.

Europe's market for light trucks contracted by 43.2 percent in the first nine months. Looking at the major markets, the UK was down 34.6 percent, France 35.3 percent, Germany 37.1 percent, Italy 43.7 percent and Spain 67.3 percent. Western Europe declined by 39.1 percent, the new EU Member States by 67.9 percent.

In the light truck sector new registrations declined by 34.4 percent in the first nine months. The downturn hit the new EU Member States (-50.9 percent) more severely than Western Europe (-32.4 percent). France (-23.1 percent), Germany (-26.3 percent) and Italy (-26.4 percent) fared better than the UK (-40.8 percent) and Spain (-44.5 percent) while the Polish market contracted by 27.4 percent and the Czech by 65.6 percent.

In the bus and coach sector, France was the only major market to expand (+8.8 percent) in te first nine months. Germany (-7.7 percent), the UK (-14.1 percent), Spain (-19.6 percent) and Italy (-27.2 percent) were down. The 9.5 percent downturn in Western Europe and the 58.0 percent drop in the new EU Member States resulted in an overall 16.5 percent decline in Europe*.

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Press release from ACEA