New commercial vehicle registrations across the
European Union (EU) in October this year continued the downward trend commenced in January, with a year-on-year decrease of 9.4 percent, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). New commercial vehicle registrations in the EU in October totaled 147,211 units, as a downturn prevailed across the major markets, with decreases of 3.8 percent in Germany, 8.6 percent in the UK, 9.8 percent in France, 16.4 percent in Italy and 20.4 percent in Spain, all year on year.
In the first 10 months of this year, a total of 1,429,287 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU-27, or down 10.6 percent from the same period a year ago. Looking at new registrations in the major markets in the EU-27 region in the first 10 months of the year, France remained the largest market, despite a 9.5 percent year-on-year contraction, followed by Germany (-3.5 percent) and the UK (-8.1 percent). Italy (-16 percent) and Spain (-24.3 percent) recorded more severe year-on-year drops.
In the January-October period of the current year, new heavy commercial vehicle registrations in the EU declined by 7.4 percent to 182,646 units, compared to January-October 2011. In the period in question, the EU registered a 7.1 percent year-on-year drop in registrations of new trucks to 243,457. In the meantime, new bus and coach registrations slipped by 0.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, amounting to 26,251 vehicles.