Auto Sales in Europe Fall Further in January

January brought a further decrease in new commercial vehicle registrations, according to ACEA data released today, February 28th.

New commercial vehicle registrations dropped last month 10.6%, continuing the downward trend seen throughout the entire 2012. The UK was the only market to report positive numbers, with an increase of 5.4%, while France was down 9.8%, Spain decreased 15.5%, Germany fell 15.5% and Italy dropped the most with 23.6%. A total of 126,110 new vehicles were registered in the EU markets.

New van registration dropped in January by 9.7% to 103,129 units, with the UK up 11.9%, France down 9.3%, Germany down 13.9%, Spain down 18.2% and Italy down 25.7%. Still, France was the one to record the most vans with 29,505 units, followed by the UK with 16,049 units and Germany with 14,260 units.

New heavy trucks demand declined the most among all segments with a decrease of 18.4% in January to 15,510 units. All markets fell, with Italy down 9.3%, Spain down 11.1%, France down 15.4% and both Germany and the UK down 22.0%. Demand for buses and coaches dropped 1.3 in the UK, 15.3% in Germany, but saw an increase in France 3.7%, Spain 51.1% and Italy 22.2%.