Demand for new commercial vehicles increased in March (+4.1%), marking the third consecutive month of growth, with 272,272 units sold in the EU. Looking at the major markets, UK posted the best performance (+10.3%), followed by Germany (+8.7%) and Spain (+4.9%), while France remained stable (-0.3%) and Italy fell by 3.4% (with 18,458 registrations, over 600 less than in March 2018).
Except for buses and coaches (-4.9%), all other segments posted growth: LCV +4.6% (mainly driven by Germany and UK); heavy trucks and trucks +2.1% (thanks to UK, France and Germany).
From January to March European commercial vehicle market grew by 5.1%, totaling 654,657 registrations overall. In the first quarter of 2019 Germany led the growth with double digit numbers (+12.8%), followed by UK (+8.9%), France (+4.4%) and Spain (+3.1%), while Italy recorded a small decline (-0.5%, with 52,185 vehicles registered, 260 less compared to the same period last year).