A total of 143,990 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU in May – up by 7.7% on the same month in 2009, though
34.6% less than May 2008.

It was the van segment that led to the growth, with sales up by 9.4%, while the other vehicle categories posted negative results.

Five months into the year, the EU market expanded by 2.4%, registering 722,767 new units. A comparison with the pre-crisis period of January to May 2008 shows a drop of 36.3%

Looking at the segment for new light commercial vehicles up to 3.5t – "vans" – with the exception of France (-3.5%), all main
markets were in the plus, growing from 2.4% in Italy to 15.1% in Germany, 32.7% in the UK and 40.9% in Spain. A total of 121,901 new vans were registered in the month. From January to May, registrations increased by 6.8%. The five largest markets all posted growth.

For new heavy commercial vehicles over 16t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – "heavy trucks" – registrations stabilised compared to last year (-0.3%), at 12,898 units. While the UK (-2.5%), France (-9.6%), Italy (-11.5%) and the Netherlands (-23.8%) saw their markets shrink, German and Spanish registrations increased by 11.5% and 32.0% respectively.

Five months into the year, most markets declined (-22.1%). Only Spain recorded positive results (+6.7%). A total of 60,508 new heavy trucks were registered over the period.

Moving on to new commercial vehicles over 3.5t (excluding Buses & Coaches) – "trucks" – registrations of new trucks in May slightly decreased (-1.1%) compared to last year with a total of 19,424 units registered. Of all significant markets, Germany (+8.0%) and Spain (+16.6%) were the only ones to post growth.

From January to May, registrations in Germany (-9.6%), the UK (-19.8%), Italy (-22.8%) and France (-23.7%) were down, as in most markets, resulting in an overall 18.5% downturn. New truck registrations amounted to 90,894 units.