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W.Europe truck demand shifts into forward gear

FRANKFURT, Nov 27 (Reuters) - Truck sales in western Europe inched up in the third quarter from a year ago, helped by growing demand for vans, data published on Thursday showed.

Demand for commercial vehicles tends to reflect the wider economic picture and European makers have suffered from a slump on both sides of the Atlantic in the last three years.

Brussels-based carmaker assocation ACEA said commercial vehicle registrations in western Europe totalled 493,078 units in the third quarter, up 1.1 percent from a year ago.

Signs of a U.S.-led recovery have given some hope to investors who anticipate a gradual increase in European sales next year after a 20 percent fall over the last three years.

ACEA said the recovery reflected recent improvements in economic sentiment in some of the main European markets. It also noted the main driver was a two percent increase in the light commercial vehicles segment.

"Reacting with a lag to the cycle, other commercial vehicle categories experienced a drop in the third quarter of 2003, due mainly to weak sales of heavy commercial vehicles," said ACEA.

Many European truckmakers, which include DaimlerChrysler , Sweden's Volvo and Scania and Germany's MAN , have aggressively cut costs and look in good shape to benefit from an upturn when it arrives.