Registrations of commercial vehicles in the EU continued to grow in February, with rises seen in all segments.
The figures from the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) show that registrations last month were up 4.7% from 173,492 to 181,636 units. All key EU markets except Spain (-3.8%) recorded gains last month, most notably Germany (+15.2%) and France (+7.1%).
Year-to-date registrations were up 5.7% to 382,114 units. Growth was seen in all markets, with Germany up +15.5%, France +7.7%, the UK +6.3%, Spain +2.1% and Italy +1.2%.
For light commercial vehicles, February registrations were up 4.4% to 150,040 units. Germany drove growth (+12.0%), followed by France (+6.4%), Italy (+6.1%) and the UK (+1.8%), while demand contracted in Spain (-3.0%).
For the first two months of 2019, demand for vans was up by 5.3%. The five largest EU markets have all posted gains so far this year: Germany recorded the strongest uplift (+12.6%), followed by France (+7.7%), the UK (+5.8%), Italy (+3.3%) and Spain (+2.2%).
Meanwhile, the positive trend in the truck segment continued, with registrations up by 6.5% compared to February 2018. Three out of five of the largest EU markets contracted, while Germany (+25.9%) and France (+10.1%) provided a crucial boost to the region’s growth.
Year-to-date truck registrations were up 7.4% to 62,632 units. The German (+24.6%) and UK (+16.8%) markets performed very well, although truck registrations declined in Italy (-11.4%).
February 2019 results in the heavy truck segment showed a solid performance, with a 5.2% increase and 23,671 units registered. Demand fell in Italy (-14.0%) and Spain (-10.2%), while Germany (+22.4%) and France (+13.3%) recorded double-digit gains.
From January to February 2019, all EU major markets except Italy (-12.2%) posted growth, with Germany (+24.8%) and the UK (+20.9%) showing the highest increases. This brought the cumulative result up by 7.0% to reach 51,950 heavy trucks registered through the first two months this year.
