European truck sales increase, while bus sales continue to fall

Brussels - Registrations of new trucks in all categories climbed in march 2007, compared with March 2006. Registrations of buses and coaches fell by 14 percent in the same period, according to data from ACEA, the European association if vehicle makers.

In the heavy truck category, new registrations in Europe (EU22+EFTA) reached 29,942 units in the month. This is 6.4 percent higher than the same period a year earlier. The increase was much higher in the new Member States (+26.6%) than in the EU15 (+4.1%).

In medium trucks - vehicles above 3.5t - registrations reached 40 933 units, up 1.9 percent over March 2006. European performance was mixed: Western Europe registrations slightly decreased (-1.2%) while new Member States saw registrations jump by 40 percent.

The light truck segment also grew, despite the fact that March 2007 had one less working day than march 2006. In total, 226 194 new vans were registered in March 2007 in Europe up by 2 percent over last year's already very good result. This improvement is due mainly to the recovering German economy, notably in the construction sector, and a sustained increase in the new EU Member States van registrations, which grew by 15.8 percent over the period.

The market for new Buses and Coaches in Europe (EU21+EFTA) further declined in March 2007 (-14%). The results on main national markets were mixed, with registrations declining by 43.8% in the UK, 38.8% in Italy, -5.9% in Germany and -0.4% in France. On the contrary, Spain posted a strong 59% increase. The European bus and coach market fell by 5.3% in the first three months of 2007.

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Press release from ACEA