LCV demand drives EU commercial vehicle registrations in February
EU commercial vehicle registrations continued to grow in February, with demand driven by the light commercial vehicle segment.
The EU commercial vehicle market remained strong in February.
Latest figures from the ACEA show the overall market grew +2.7% to 164,788 units in February. Spain (+12.8%) and Italy (+11.4%) posted the highest increases, while registrations declined slightly in the United Kingdom (-2.6%) and Germany (-0.3%).
For the year to date, the market grew +5.6% to 338,947 units. Double-digit growth was seen in both Spain (+18.0%) and Italy (+11.3%), while France (+6.6%), Germany (+1.1%) and the UK (+0.8%) followed with more modest rates.
For new light commercial vehicles up to 3.5 tonnes, new registrations in February totalled 136,136 units, up 3.2%. Spain (+14.9%) and Italy (+9.2%) posted growth but the UK (-4.3%) market fell compared to February 2016. Year-to-date, 279,003 new vans were registered in the EU, up 6.2% compared to the same period in 2016. The UK (-1.0%) was the only major market that posted a slight decline, while Spain (+22.4%), Italy (+7.2%), France (+7.1%) and Germany (+2.8%) all saw increases.
For trucks, February registrations remained stable at -0.1% with 54,456 units registered in, with Italy posting the highest growth figures (+20.6%). From January to February 2017, 54,456 new trucks were registered in the EU, 2.5% more than last year. The Italian (+37.5%), English (+10.5%) and French (+7.2%) markets all posted growth, although truck registrations declined in Spain (-5.0%) and Germany (-3.5%).
Within the heavy truck segment, registrations rose +1.0%, with 21,531 new vehicles registered. Most of the major EU markets contributed to this growth, Italy did very well (+20.0%) though the UK (-4.2%) market faced a downturn.
Year-to-date, the EU market grew by 3.3%, reaching 45,111 units. Italy (+36.1%), the UK (+7.0%) and France (+6.9%) saw demand for heavy trucks increase, while registrations in Spain (-4.7%) and Germany (-1.3%) declined over the period.
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Natalie Middleton
Natalie has worked as a fleet journalist for nearly 20 years, previously as assistant editor on the former Company Car magazine before joining Fleet World in 2006. Prior to this, she worked on a range of B2B titles, including Insurance Age and Insurance Day. Natalie edits all the Fleet World websites and newsletters, and loves to hear about any latest industry news - or gossip.
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