Brussels, 25/02/2009- In the first month of 2009 European* registrations of new commercial vehicles contracted by 35.6%, reflecting a significant drop in demand for all four categories: -36.6% for vans, -34.7% for heavy trucks, -33.0% for trucks and -15.8% for buses and coaches. In absolute numbers, new commercial vehicle registrations amounted to 145,187 units. European markets counted on average 1.4 working days less than in January 2008.

New Heavy Commercial Vehicles over 16t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – “heavy trucks”

European registrations for heavy commercial vehicles were down 34.7%, with the market in the new EU Member States more than halved (-57.6%). In Western Europe, registrations dropped 31.9%. Spain was hit hardest (-76.3%) but other main markets also faced heavy contraction, ranging from -21.5% in Italy, -27.9% in Germany, -31.6% in France to 40.2% in the UK. Just three countries posted growth: Finland (+3.0%), Sweden (+5.2%) and Switzerland (+41.5%).

Source: ACEA

« »