European truck sales continue to fall

European truck sales continue to fall

Brussels, Belgium: Commercial vehicles sales in the European Union ,an accurate barometer of economic activity, fell in March by 9.8% It is the fifteenth consecutive month of contraction according to data from European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA).

The only market bucking trend is that for van sales (up to 3.5 tonne) in the UK which rose 11.7%. The number of new vans registered fell by 10.4% in France, 15.4% in Germany, 18.7% in Spain and 25.9% in Italy.

Heavy truck (over 16 tonnes) registrations fell in all the major European markets down 18.3% with 17,949 units recorded in March. From January to March, all major markets faced a double-digit downturn, from -12.5% in the UK to -16.4% in France, -17.6% in Italy, -19.2% in Germany and -20.5% in Spain, leading to an overall 16.7% decrease. In total, 46,985 new heavy trucks were registered in the region.

In March, the sharpest decline was registered truck registrations (3.5 to 16 tonne) (-18.8%) where the most important markets contracted severely, by -13.4% in the UK to -14.7% in France, -23.3% in Italy, -23.7% in Germany and -26.7% in Spain.

Over the first quarter, Germany remained the largest market (17,913 units), although shrinking by 18.9% compared to the same period last year, followed by France (10,555 units; -15.7%), the UK (9,248 units; -16.3%), Italy (3,191 units; -21.1%) and Spain (2,552 units; -20.5%). In total, 62,154 trucks were registered in the EU, or 16.8% less than in the first three months of 2012.