Automakers raised forecast for the German commercial vehicle market

Automakers raised their forecast for the German commercial vehicle market in 2008 after registrations of new vehicles rose 5.2 percent in the first half, their German lobbying group VDIK said on Thursday.

"Since the market for light commercial vehicles performed better than we anticipated in the first half, we are upgrading our forecast from December 2007 for the overall truck market to 334,000 vehicles," VDIK President Volker Lange said in a statement.

Previously, it had expected a "slight contraction" in the market to a nonetheless solid level of 325,000 units from a post-reunification high of roughly 340,000 in 2007.

Instead it now forecasts a minor decline for 2009, it said.

During the first half of the year, new registrations for the lightest commercial vehicle class weighing in at up to 3.5 tonnes rose nearly 9 percent, while those between 3.5 and 6 tonnes increased by 5.5 percent.

Trucks between 6 and 16 tonnes suffered a 4 percent drop while the new registrations of all trucks heavier edged 1.4 percent lower.

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