The organisation's data shows that Spain was the only major market to record a downturn (-13.3%), while the UK (+17.2%), France (+32.2%) and Germany (+38.4%) all expanded. Last month counted on average 1.7 more working days than May last year.

Looking at the year-to-date figures, a total of 835,539 new vehicles were recorded, or 15.8% more than January to May last year. With the exception of Spain (-7.4%), all significant markets posted growth, from +12.4% in France to 26.3% in the UK and 28.2% in Germany.

Looking at new light commercial vehicles up to 3.5t – "vans" – registrations in May amounted to 146,350 units, or 21.5% more than in May 2010. While the Spanish market declined by 18.3%, the British (+17.3%), French (+28.4%) and German (+36.0%) were all up. 

Five months into the year, a total of 689,388 new vans was registered, or 11.3% more than in the first five months of last year. Spain saw the number of its new registrations decline (-12.8%), while France (+9.0%), Germany (+22.5%) and the UK (+26.7%) performed better than in the same period a year ago.

For new heavy commercial vehicles over 16t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – "heavy trucks" – May's results showed a strong increase in new registrations (+63.1%), which totaled 21,463 units. The UK (+43.1%), Spain (+45.6%) and Germany (+48.7%) performed similarly, while France saw its market increase by a considerable 87.4%. From January to May, 100,089 new heavy trucks were registered in the region (+62.2%). Growth prevailed across countries, except in Greece (-49.8%), ranging from 41.7% in Spain to 42.8% in the Netherlands, 50.4% in Germany, 67.7% in France and 71.6% in the UK.

For new commercial vehicles over 3.5t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – "trucks" – this segment recorded 28,584 new registrations in May in the EU, or 50.8% more than in the same month last year. Strong growths were observed across markets, reaching 31.5% in the UK, 40.5% in Spain, 44.3% in Germany and 73.5% in France. Over the first five months, 132,525 new trucks were registered, or 49.2% more than in the same period in 2010. Germany (+45.1%) was the largest market, registering 40,470 new units, followed by France (+56.5%; 21,518 units), the UK (+40.8%; 14,807 units), Spain (+40.7%; 6,744 units) and the Netherlands (+38.0%; 5,974 units).