By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA

The European Union commercial vehicles market in January-August grew by 4.8 percent year-on-year, the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) announced on Wednesday.

The ACEA said new commercial vehicle registrations totaled 1.6 million during the first eight months of 2018.

"Spain saw the strongest growth over this period (up 10.8 percent), followed by France (6.0 percent), Germany (4.4 percent) and Italy (1.6 percent)," the association said.

"By contrast, the U.K. market for commercial vehicles contracted by 3.0 percent so far this year," it added.

The ACEA noted that the EU demand for vans -- light commercial vehicles -- recorded a 4.8-percent annual hike with a total of 1.35 million vehicle registrations from January to August.

"Eight months into the year, demand for new heavy trucks remained positive across the EU, registrations were up 5.1 percent compared to 2017,” the association said.

"Overall, 205,628 new [heavy commercial] vehicles were registered so far in 2018," it added.

The association also said that new medium/heavy buses and coaches registrations amounted to 27,527 over the same period.

"From January to August 2018, EU bus and coach registrations were slightly higher than one year ago, up 1.3 percent," it added.