Berlin  - European new commercial vehicle registrations plunged 27.7 per cent in September compared to the same month last year, the automotive industry association ACEA said Friday.

The drop in September represented the 17th consecutive monthly fall in new truck registrations and underscored the fragile state of the economic recovery in Europe which has emerged in recent months.

But unlike passenger cars, commercial vehicles have in general not benefited from the government-incentive schemes aimed at promoting auto sales.

September passenger car registrations jumped by 6.3 per cent, the ACEA said month.

European new commercial vehicle sales slumped by 35.6 per cent to a total of 1,270,241 during the first 9 months of the year compared to the same period in 2008, the ACEA said.

While Greece, Ireland, Italy and Denmark in western Europe notched up big falls in commercial vehicle sales, the largest drops were in Eastern Europe.

This included a dramatic 82.2-per-cent fall in Latvia as well as a 76.1-per-cent drop in the Czech Republic and around a 71-per-cent slump in Bulgaria and Romania. (dpa)