New commercial vehicle registrations in Romania up 15.2 pct in the first 8 months

New vehicle registrations in the European Union rose in August 2018 by 7.3 percent as compared to August 2017, reaching a total of 162,532 units. For the first eight months of 2018, there was an increase of 4.8 percent over the similar period in 2017, with a volume of 1,632,852 units, according to European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

During January-August 2018 the top of European countries is headed by France with 340,825 units (+ 6.0 percent), the UK with a volume of 257,358 units (-3.0 percent) and Germany with a volume of 250,733 units (+ 4.4 percent) new commercial vehicles registered. The LCVs (light commercial vehicles, under 3.5 tones) represent a volume of 1,352,326 units, an increase of + 4.8 percent; MHCV (average commercial vehicles, between 3.5 and 16 to) represents a volume of 252,999 units, an increase of + 4.8 percent; HCV (heavy commercial vehicles, over 16 to) is a volume of 205,628 units, an increase of + 5.1 percent, and the segment of minibuses and buses is a volume of 27,527 units, a growth of + 1.3 percent compared to the similar period of 2017.

In Romania, 17,656 new commercial vehicles were registered, representing a 15.2 percent increase over January-August 2017.

New commercial vehicle registrations increased both in July and August 2018 (+2.3 percent and +7.3 percent respectively), marking the fifth consecutive month of growth. All segments performed well during the summer months. The major EU markets saw strong demand in August: Spain (+18.0 percent), France (+13.3 percent) and Germany (+11.7 percent) posted double‐digit increases, although the United Kingdom (+2.4 percent) and Italy (+1.7 percent) showed more modest growth.

During the first eight months of 2018, the EU market expanded by 4.8 percent to reach 1.6 million new commercial vehicles. Spain saw the strongest growth over this period (+10.8 percent), followed by France (+6.0 percent), Germany (+4.4 percent) and Italy (+1.6 percent). By contrast, the UK market for commercial vehicles contracted by 3.0 percent so far this year.

In August 2018, demand for light commercial vehicles grew by 7.5 percent, mainly driven by the excellent performance of the new EU member states (+14.5 percent). Among the five major markets, Spain (+20.2 percent), France (+12.7 percent), Germany (+12.7 percent) and the UK (+5.0 percent) did very well, but demand declined in Italy (‐3.0 percent). In total, 132,905 new vans were registered across the EU in August.

From January to August 2018, EU demand for vans increased by 4.8 percent compared to one year ago, with a total of 1,352,326 units registered so far. Results were diverse among the major EU markets, with the United Kingdom (‐2.2 percent) and Italy (‐0.4 percent) posting declines, while Spain (+11.6 percent), France (+5.7 percent) and Germany (+5.4 percent) all recorded growth.

New registrations in the heavy truck segment in August 2018 were significantly higher (+8.6 August 2018) than one year ago. France (+15.6 August 2018), Spain (+10.7 August 2018), Germany (+9.6 August 2018) and Italy (+4.7 August 2018) contributed positively to the EU’s growth, but registrations fell in the UK (‐9.4 August 2018).

Eight months into the year, demand for new heavy trucks remained positive across the EU, registrations were up 5.1 August 2018 compared to 2017. Overall, 205,628 new vehicles were registered so far in 2018. The only major market to post a decline was the United Kingdom (‐8.9 August 2018), while Italy (+13.3 in August 2018), France (+10.0 August 2018), Spain (+4.2 August 2018) and Germany (+2.5 August 2018) performed well so far this year.