Small businesses can make a meal of the new Combo

Author: Robin Roberts

Demand for new commercial vehicles was down an overall 11.3% in the EU in February.

The downturn ranged from 3.2% in France, to 6.9% in Germany, 16.6% in the UK, 24.4% in Spain and 29.8% in Italy.

In total, 126,010 new vehicles were registered in the month, which counted on average one more working day across the EU than February last year.

From January to February, markets in Germany (-1.9%) and France (-2.5%) slightly contracted, while the UK (-11.5%), Spain (-22.9%) and Italy (-30.5%) faced double-digit downturns.

Overall, the EU recorded 267,111 new commercial vehicles, or 7.9% less than in the first two months of 2011.

One of the real surprises of the month was an almost doubling of UK bus and coach registrations of 91.8% while truck plating rose 24.5% and were countered by a 26.4% drop in van sales in the month in Britain.