New car sales up 26%
NEW car registrations continued to rise in March with SMMT figures revealing a 26.6 percent increase in sales.
397,383 new cars were registered during the month.
Scrappage continued to have an effect, but it was not the key driver of sales: 12.2 percent of registrations were through scrappage.
Instead, growing fleet demand is helping keep sales strong. Many company fleets who extended contracts are now starting to renew their cars, something the industry hopes will help sustain recovery in months to come.
Even so, it was private buyers who led the growth. This underlying stability is another factor why the car industry should fare better than it perhaps feared in the coming months.
It is a welcome boost to the industry, said SMMT chief Paul Everitt. ‘The UK motor industry has enjoyed a better than anticipated first quarter of 2010.
‘The coming months will remain challenging and headline registration numbers are expected to dip, but underlying demand will continues to improve slowly.’
Another surprising stat is that registrations of UK-built cars rose a huge 52.1 percent. Great news for the British economy, and for makers such as Nissan, Toyota, Vauxhall, Honda, Jaguar and Land Rover, plus others.
Car Dealer Magazine will now analyse the figures, and bring you details of the big movers!
Tags: new car sales, registrations, SMMT