Record year again for European heavy trucks

摘要

Western Europe - Despite the sudden economic downturn and severe fall in heavy truck sales during the final quarter of last year, sales of trucks and tractor units, 16t gvw and above, in 17 western European countries in 2008, resulted in another record year. Total registrations edged up 325 units to 267,333 trucks in 2008 from 267,208 in 2007. This extension in registrations follows two previous years of steady growth: in 2007 registrations rose 2.3% from 2006 (261,069) to 267,000 units and registrations in 2006 had increased 3.7% from 250,826 in 2005. The outlook currently, given the instability of the economies across Europe, is unpredictable. What is for certain is that the first six months of 2009 will be one of the worst on record. The markets are expected to improve slightly in the second half of the year but a recovery is not expected until 2010.