New commercial vehicle registrations across the EU in June this year continued the downward trend commenced in January, with a year-on-year decrease of 5.8 percent, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA). In the EU in June, new commercial vehicle registrations amounted to 157,232 units, increasing by 7.5 percent compared to May this year. Germany was the only market to post growth in June with a year-on-year increase of 8.8 percent, France and the UK remained relatively stable with a decrease of 0.8 percent and increase of 0.2 percent respectively, while Italy (-29.8 percent) and Spain (-28.7 percent) both recorded double-digit declines - all year on year.
In the first half of this year, a total of 892,850 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU-27, or down 10.8 percent from the same period a year ago. Looking at new registrations in the major markets in the EU-27 region in the first half of the year, all the markets registered contractions with declines ranging from -1.9 percent in Germany to -5.1 percent in the UK, -7.2 percent in France, -25.5 percent in Spain and -37 percent in Italy.
In the first half of this year, new heavy commercial vehicle registrations in the EU declined by 6.1 percent to 112,762 units, compared to January-June 2011. In the half in question, the EU registered a 5.5 percent drop in registrations of new trucks compared to the same period last year, with 150,568 new trucks recorded. In the meantime, buses and coaches was the only segment to record an increase in the first half of the year, up 5.2 percent year on year, mainly driven by the upturn in the British market.