EU commercial vehicle registrations up 15% in Jan-Feb period

LONDON (ICIS)–EU demand for new commercial vehicles in the first two months of the year expanded 15%, totalling 320,833 commercial vehicles, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Wednesday.

During the period, Italy (+27.1%), Spain (+19.1%), Germany (+13.9%) and France (+12.8%) all posted double-digit growth, while the UK (+0.6%) remained stable.

In February alone, demand for new commercial vehicles in the EU increased for the 14th consecutive month, growing 18%, to160,062 units. The ACEA said that growth in February was sustained across all segments of commercial vehicles.

“Looking at the largest markets, Italy recorded the highest upturn (+30.4%) followed by Spain (+17.6%), Germany (+16.2%), France (+13.9%) and the UK (+3.7%),” it said.

The automotive industry is major global consumer of petrochemicals which contribute more than a third of the raw material costs of an average vehicle. ICIS tracks the movement of petrochemical raw material costs in auto production both globally and regionally with the weighted ICIS Basket of Automotive Petrochemicals (IBAP).

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