EU commercial vehicle market expands 5.3 pct in Jan-Feb

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - The EU market for commercial vehicles in January-February saw an annual growth of 5.3 percent, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) reported on Friday.

The ACEA said the number of new commercial vehicle registrations amounted to 382,114 in the two-month period.

Among key markets, Germany (15.5 percent), France (7.7 percent), the U.K. (6.3 percent), Spain (2.1 percent) and Italy (1.2 percent) all recorded an increase in demand for commercial vehicles.

In January-February this year, the EU demand for vans -- light commercial vehicles -- grew by 5.3 percent to reach 313,285 new registrations.

On the heavy commercial vehicles side, all EU major markets except Italy posted growth, with Germany and the U.K. showing the highest increases.

"This brought the cumulative result up by 7 percent to reach 51,950 heavy trucks registered through the first two months this year," it said.

Over the same period, more than 62,500 new medium/heavy commercial vehicles were registered in the EU, marking an annual increase of 7.4 percent.

"Two months into the year, the EU bus and coach market grew by 4.8 percent, totaling 6,197 new vehicles registered across the EU," the ACEA added.

Last year, the number of new commercial vehicle registrations amounted to 2.5 million in the 28-member bloc.