LIGHT commercial vehicle sales across Europe during 2006 were up by more than 5% on the previous year, latest figures show.

Sales of vans up to 3.5 tonnes totalled 2,077,406 units during the year, an increase of 5.6% on 2005’s figure of 1,967,562 units.

A spokesman for the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (ACEA) said: ‘On the whole, 2006 was better than 2005 in terms of van registrations for all European countries except for the Netherlands (-2.2%), Belgium (-2.8%) and Portugal (-3.2%).

‘Among the main markets, Germany was the strongest performer (+12.5%), followed by Italy (+8.3%), Spain (+5.9%), France (+4.8%) and the UK (+1.3%).’

Country		Jan-Dec 06		Jan-Dec 05		Variance
Austria		30,351		28,720		5.7%
Belgium		57,917		59,593		-2.8%
Denmark		62,786		55,914		12.3%
Finland		15,268		14,090		8.4%
France		439,273		419,043		4.8%
Germany		197,164		175,201		12.5%
Greece		23,735		23,045		3.0%
Ireland		40,591		36,844		10.2%
Italy*		234,104		216,220		8.3%
Luxembourg		3,083		3,025		1.9%
Netherlands		64,474		65,906		-2.2%
Portugal		64,487		66,638		-3.2%
Spain		408,763		386,080		5.9%
Sweden		39,402		34,702		13.5%
UK		327,162		322,930		1.3%
European Union		2,008,560		1,907,951		5.3%
Iceland		2,554		2,172		17.6%
Norway		42,630		35,185		21.2%
Switzerland		23,662		22,254		6.3%
EFTA		68,846		59,611		15.5
Western Europe		2,077,406		1,967,562		5.6%

* Delivery figures