New Car Registrations Accelerate For First Time In 14 months

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Thu, 08 Sep 2011

New car sales in August rose for the first time in more than a year, new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have revealed.

According to the data, a total of 59,346 new cars were registered last month, up 7.3 per cent on the previous year. The increase was the first recorded since June 2010.

Smaller cars continued to prove popular among UK buyers, with sales in the so-called mini segment rising by more than a third and those in the supermini category jumping by 18 per cent.

The Ford Fiesta remained the UK's best-selling model overall, with 3,213 new Fiesta’s sold during the month.

The SMMT figures also showed that 34 electric cars were sold in August, compared to just 11 last year. The difference is largely due to the government grant introduced in January, which gives buyers £5,000 towards the cost of an eligible eco-friendly motor.

Despite the rise in overall car sales in August, the SMMT said the outlook for car registrations "remains challenging".

Registrations for the year to date are down 6.1 per cent year-on-year at 1,220,618, but are expected to top 2 million in 2012.