Van sales rise shows no sign of slowing

SALES of light commercial vehicles across Western Europe have increased by almost 5% for the year to date.

Registration for vans up to 3.5-tonnes totalled 506,898 units between January and March - up from 483,591 units during the same period last year.

Out of the five main Western European countries, only Italy noted a fall, (-0.4%). In Spain, registrations were up 13.4%, France 4.7%, UK 2.2% and Germany 1.4%.

Among smaller countries, Denmark (27.6%), Ireland (25.7%) and Belgium (10.2%), made the biggest contributions to the year-to-date results.

Latest figures produced by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) show that for the month of March, sales of LCVs increased but at a slower pace than in previous months. New registrations during the month reached 205,524 units, up 2.7% on the same month last year.

Country	Jan-Mar 05	Jan-Mar 04	Variance



Austria	6,272	5,837	7.5%



Belgium	18,001	16,337	10.2%



Denmark	12,161	9,530	27.6%



Finland	4,150	4,383	-5.3%



France	109,083	104,236	4.7%



Germany	43,390	42,776	1.4%



Greece	6,125	5,613	9.1%



Ireland	15,957	12,692	25.7%



Italy**	53,601	53,798	-0.4%



Luxembourg	833	697	19.5%



Netherlands	22,165	26,511	-16.4%



Portugal	17,888	18,059	-0.9%



Spain	91,163	80,379	13.4%



Sweden	7,097	5,730	23.9%



UK	85,877	84,030	2.2%



European Union	493,763	470,608	4.9%



Iceland	398	308	29.2%



Norway	7,903	7,280	8.6%



Switzerland	4,834	5,395	-10.4%



EFTA*	13,135	12,983	1.2%



Western Europe	506,898	483,591	4.8%