New commercial vehicle registrations in the EU were down by 23.4% in December 2012, continuing the downward trend which prevailed throughout 2012.

Demand reached its lowest level since October 2009 with 125,825 units.

The UK market was down by 15.5%, Italy by 20.3%, France by 21.3%, Germany by 24.7% and Spain by 34.2%.

From January to December 2012, a total of 1,695,173 new commercial vehicles were registered in the EU. This was 12.4% less than in 2011.

The UK (-5.7%) and Germany (-7.0%) performed somewhat similarly, while the French market shrank by 10.3%, and the Spanish (-25.9%) and Italian (-31.7%) faced a more severe downturn.

Vans up to 3.5 tonnes

In December, the EU registered 103,254 new vans, or 24.3% less than in the same month a year earlier.

All major markets were down, from -14.2% in the UK to -19.6% in Italy, -21.7% in France, -24.3% in Germany and -32.7% in Spain.

Over 12 months, demand for new vans declined by 13.3% in the region, totalling 1,377,283 units.

Results were negative across most countries, including the largest markets: -6.0% in Germany, -7.9% in the UK, -10.6% in France, -26.3% in Spain, -32.0% in Italy.