TRUCKMAKERS NEWS * Europe - Vehicle production up 15% over 9 months in 2010

Brussels,Bekguyn -ACEA -23 December 2010:  --  Total vehicle production in the EU rose by 15% in the first nine months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009. Passenger car production increased by 13%, reflecting a drop of 5% in the third quarter in correlation with the softening momentum in the global economy. Production levels in the segment of vans expanded in all three quarters of 2010. The segment of trucks started to show signs of recovery only in the second quarter, when production increased by 57%, and continued this trend in the third quarter when new truck registrations also began to be positive again...  Three quarters into 2010, a total of 12.6 million motor vehicles were produced in the EU, which is 15% more than over the same period last year. Compared to the pre-crisis level of the first three quarters of 2008, total production was down 14%. New passenger car production in the EU grew in the first half year before contracting by 5% in the third quarter, in correlation with the drop observed in new registrations. Three quarters into the year, production of cars was up 13% compared to the same period last year, but down 11% compared to the first three quarters of 2008. Production of vans increased throughout the first three quarters of this year. However, compared to the levels of 2008, output levels were still down 29%. Truck production continued to decrease in the first quarter of this year, before rebounding in the second and third but still remaining well below the level before the crisis (-53%)...  Germany remained the largest manufacturing country, both for motor vehicles and passenger cars, the production of which expanded by 15% and 14% respectively. While 36.4% of new cars were produced in Germany, Spain, as well as France, accounted for 12.9%, followed by the UK (8.3%), the Czech Republic (7.1%), Poland (5.7%), Italy (3.9%) and Slovakia (3.6%)...

* Europe - Commercial Vehicles: Registrations up 8% in 2010

Brussels,Belgium -ACEA -25 Jan 2011:  --  In December, demand for new commercial vehicles continued to increase (+12.5%) across segments, except for buses and coaches (-1.4%). Cumulative results from January to December also showed the expansion of the EU markets for vans and trucks while registrations of buses and coaches declined, leading to an overall 8.0% growth in the region.

* New Light Commercial Vehicles up to 3.5t – “vans”

In December, new van registrations were up 8.4%. Germany (+33.6%), the UK (+21.9%) and France (+6.4%) contributed most to the upturn. Italy and Spain saw their markets decrease by 7.1% and 2.7% respectively. Over twelve months, registrations of new vans amounted to 1,488,848 units, or 8.7% more than in 2009. All majors markets posted growth, ranging from +6.2% in Italy to 8.8% in Spain, 11.5% in France, 16.0% in Germany and 19.5% in the UK. The steepest downturn was recorded in Slovakia (-56.0%) while the Swedish market expanded the most (+38.3%).

* New Heavy Commercial Vehicles over 16t (excluding Buses &Coaches) – “heavy trucks”

The segment of heavy trucks posted the strongest increase in December (+70.2%) coming from the low levels recorded in December 2009 (-39.4%). All major markets posted growth. Germany remained the largest one with 4,496 heavy trucks registered, followed by France (2,842 units), the UK (2,220), Spain (960) and Italy (904). From January to December, demand for heavy trucks grew by 8.4% in the EU, sustained by the Spanish (+22.1%), German (+21.4%) and British (+5.0%) markets. Italy (-3.4%) and France (-1.4%) performed slightly less well in 2010 than in 2009.

* New Commercial Vehicles over 3.5t (excluding Buses &Coaches) – “trucks”

In December, registrations of new trucks increased by 47.8% in the EU. Looking at the largest markets, France (+50.9%), the UK (+51.6%) and Germany (+57.4%) performed similarly, posting strong growths. Italy and Spain expanded by 18.6% and 15.0% respectively. Over 2010, a total of 249,869 new trucks were registered in the EU, or 6.4% more than in 2009. Results were mixed across countries as registrations slipped by 0.8% and 0.9% in the UK and France, while they were down 5.0% in Italy and up 12.1% and 19.7% in Spain and Germany respectively.

* New Buses & Coaches over 3.5t

The segment of buses and coaches was the only one to decline in December (-1.4%), in spite of positive results observed in Spain (+32.0%) and Italy (+74.7%). The downturn ranged from -18.1% in Germany to -22.4% in the UK and -33.9% in France. From January to December, registrations of new buses and coaches fell by 10.4%. Italy was the only significant market to post growth (+24.5%) while Germany (-7.0%), Spain (-8.2%), the UK (-13.2%) and France (-20.5%) all saw their markets contract.

* Sweden - Scania is king of the test – again:   “… with the result that Scania wins the fuel consumption evaluation by a comfortable margin”

(Photo from scanianewsroom: the Scania G 420 is best in class)

Södertälje,Sweden -Scania Social Media News Room -18 Feb 2011: -- Scania has again captured first place in Europe’s 1,000 Point Test,  one of Europe’s largest comparative truck tests and, according to many, the toughest...  Scania was the overall winner, earning a total of 941 – nine points ahead of the closest contender...  Omnibus and Fernfahrer, the 1,000 Point Test is carried out in cooperation with Spain’s Transporte Mundial, Great Britain’s Commercial Motor and the Netherlands’ Truckstar...  The test runs along a 180-kilometre route in south-west Germany, a hilly part of the scenic Mosel valley...  In the 1,000 Point Test that took place in late 2010, the focus was to compare fleet trucks producing around 400 hp. A Scania G 420 Highline faced three other tractors: a Mercedes Axor 1840 LS with 396 hp, a MAN TGS 18.400 LX with 394 hp and a Volvo FM 410 Globetrotter with 405 hp...  The Scania G-series tractor received especially high points in the economy, performance and cab categories. In economy, the Scania almost reached a perfect score – 133 out of 135 points...  In addition to economy, Scania received high marks for driver appeal and the cab...