New commercial vehicle registrations across the European Union (EU) in November this year were at their lowest since November 2009, with a year-on-year decrease of 18.5 percent, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). New commercial vehicle registrations in the EU in November totaled 140,128 units, as a downturn prevailed across the major markets, with decreases of 13.6 percent in Germany, 16.1 percent in the UK, 20.7 percent in France, 25.1 percent in Spain and 27.5 percent in Italy, all year on year.
In the first 11 months of this year, a total of 1,569,390 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU-27, or down 11.4 percent from the same period a year ago. Looking at new registrations in the major markets in the EU-27 region in the first 11 months of the year, France remained the largest market, despite a 9.2 percent year-on-year contraction, followed by Germany (-5.2 percent) and the UK (-4.8 percent). Italy (-32.5 percent) and Spain (-25.2 percent) recorded more severe year-on-year drops.
In the January-November period of the current year, new heavy commercial vehicle registrations in the EU declined by 8.4 percent to 199,848 units, compared to January-November 2011. In the period in question, the EU registered a 7.9 percent year-on-year drop in registrations of new trucks to 266,562. In the meantime, new bus and coach registrations rose by 0.3 percent compared to the same period of the previous year, amounting to 28,814 vehicles, mainly driven by the UK which was the largest market and which expanded by 33.9 percent year on year.