New commercial vehicle registrations across the EU in May this year continued the downward trend commenced in January, with a year-on-year decrease of 17.8 percent, the sharpest fall since 2009, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). In the EU in May, new commercial vehicle registrations amounted to 146,212 units, increasing by 5.5 percent compared to April this year. The UK was the only market to post growth in May with a year-on-year increase of 10 percent, while Germany (-13.6%), France (-22.1%), Spain (-27.4%) and Italy (-42.4%) all recorded double-digit downturns - all year on year.
In the first five months of this year, a total of 735,992 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU-27, or down 11.8 percent from the same period a year ago. Looking at new registrations in the major markets in the EU-27 region in the first five months of the year all the markets registered contractions with the declines ranging from -4.0 percent in Germany to -6.2 percent in the UK, -8.5 percent in France, -24.8 percent in Spain and -37.9 percent in Italy.
In May this year, new heavy commercial vehicle registrations in the EU declined by 14.2 percent to 18,562 units, compared to May 2011. In the month in question, the EU registered a 13.4 percent drop in registrations of new trucks compared to the same month last year, with 25,034 new trucks recorded. In the meantime, new registrations of buses and coaches switched to a downtrend after being the only segment to record positive results since January, mainly driven by the British market, and recorded a 3.5 percent year-on-year decrease.