Sales of heavy trucks soared in several key west European countries in September in anticipation of Euro IV emissions legislation that came into force at the beginning of October. Sales of trucks over 16 tonnes reached 28,075 units, up 35.2% on a year earlier.

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The highest growth was in France (+72.1%), followed by Spain (+66%) and Germany (+23.5%). The UK market fell by 12.3%.


Although cumulative figures show visibly less distortion, growth posted on the western European market amounted to +6.2% as compared with the three first quarters 2005.


Truck sales in the 3.5-16 tonne segment also rose strongly, up 40.8% on a year ago. In total, 45,149 new commercial vehicles in this weight range were registered in western Europe. Amongst the five main markets only in Italy did the market remain flat (–0.5%). In contrast, France (+69.2%), Spain (+53.8%), Germany (+42.2%) and the UK (+35.1%) enjoyed a strong upturn.


Western Europe cumulative figures for the whole nine–month period (+6.9%) moderate the September results.

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Light commercial vehicle demand in September was flat compared to a year ago. In total, 172,513 new light commercial vehicles (LCV) were registered in September 2006 in Western Europe, representing a –0.2% drop relative to the same month last year. This very slight downsize was influenced by one working day less with respect to September last year across the whole region.


Cumulative numbers for the first three quarters of the year show an increase of +4.0% relative to the same period last year (+3.8% in the EU15). Apart from Belgium (–4.3%), Portugal (–5.7%) and the Netherlands (–8.8%), all the other markets remained on the positive trend, with two-digit growth in Germany (+12%), Denmark (+13.4%) and Sweden (+16.2%).