Demand for commercial vehicles in the EU declined -2.4% in October, bringing a 21-month run of consecutive growth to an end.

EU commercial vehicle registrations were down -2.4% in October but up up +11.6% over 10 months

Latest data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) shows that October’s decline brought total registrations for the month to 185,055 units, affecting all segments and all major markets, except for Italy.

In fact, the Italian market posted a double-digit increase (+47.9%), while Germany (-15.0%), the UK (-6.4%), Spain (-5.7%) and France (-5.6%) saw registrations decline compared to October 2015.

However, YtD registrations remained positive – up 11.6% to around 1.9 million vehicles –thanks to gains in earlier months. Italy (+41.1%), Spain (+10.8%), France (+8.3%), Germany (+8.1%), and the United Kingdom (+2.1%) all posted growth.

For new light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes, October demand saw a slight downturn of -0.8%, totalling 150,189 units. This followed 37 consecutive months of growth in the segment. Demand was mainly driven by Italy (+47.7%), while Germany (-13.2%), France (-5.8%), Spain (-5.5%) and the UK (-4.5%) all saw demand for vans decline.

Ten months into the year, 1,572,863 new light commercial vehicles were registered in the EU, up 11.9% on the first 10 months of 2015. Italy (+42.2%), Spain (+10.8%), Germany (+9.7%), France (+8.0%) and the UK (+2.0%) all contributed to this positive upturn over the first ten months of 2016.

For new heavy commercial vehicles (HCV) over 16 tonnes, EU registrations decreased (-7.7%) compared to October last year, totalling 26,324 units. Among the big five markets, Italy (+35.3%) showed the highest percentage growth, while demand for new HCVs in Germany (-17.4%), the United Kingdom (-16.3%), Spain (-8.7%) and France (-4.3%) dropped significantly.

For the year to date, demand for new heavy trucks continued to increase (+12.4%), with 244,303 new vehicles being registered in the EU. All major markets made a positive contribution to the overall upturn, with Italy (+37.0%) and France (+13.5%) reporting double-digit increases.

For new medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) over 3.5 tonnes, registrations were down (-9.0%) compared to October last year. Overall, 31,853 new trucks were registered in the EU. Among the major markets, results for trucks were similar to those of the heavy truck segment, with Italy (+43.9%) showing the highest increase and all other major markets posting declines.

From January to October 2016, 300,228 new trucks were registered in the EU, 11.0% more than in the same period last year. Italy (+37.8%), France (+13.2%) and Spain (+9.4%) made a particularly significant contribution to this.