March Truck Sales Fall 3% in Europe

Sales of commercial vehicles across Europe declined 3% year on year to 268,000 units last month, trade group ACEA reports.

March deliveries rose 8% to 53,700 units in France. But they fell in the region’s other major markets: the U.K. (-6% to 66,200 units), Germany (-8% to 34,700), Spain (-2% to 21,500) and Italy (-4% to 19,300).

ACEA says demand for light commercial vehicles (less than 3.5 metric tons), fell 3% to 226,900 units last month. Sales of heavy commercial trucks (at least 16 metric tons) dipped to 30,200 units from 31,200 in March 2017.

Europe’s commercial truck market started the year strongly, expanding 7% through the first two months of 2018. But last month’s decline narrowed growth for the first quarter to 641,900 vehicles compared with 626,200 in the same period last year.