New Car Sales - August Continues Upturn

Published Date: 11th Sep 2013

The new car market continued to improve in August despite a difficult UK economy with a 10.9% rise in new car registrations marking 18 months of continued growth with 2013 seeing an average growth of 10% each month.

Private and business/fleet buyers continue to be attracted by the latest new car deals available in the UK and continue to take advantage of new technologies that brand new cars offer with private buyers in particular showing the biggest upturn.

Whilst the sales of brand new hybrid and other alternatively fuelled vehicles continue to grow very quickly with a growth of over 41%, brand new conventional fuel vehicles are also a very attractive proposition. The latest technology delivers more efficient petrol and diesel powered vehicles enabling new car buyers to take advantage of significantly lower running costs with excellent fuel economy. Low CO2 emissions also means low road tax or even road tax exemption. With low running costs a key factor, small and supermini cars have shown significant growth with the Ford Fiesta the UK's favourite new car by far the biggest seller in August.

Behind the Fiesta is the Ford Focus, the second biggest seller in August with the Fiesta and Focus consistently the UK two best-selling new cars. The third best-seller for August was the new Vauxhall Corsa, a favourite amongst driving instructors, followed by the Vauxhall Astra and the iconic VW Golf. The sixth best seller in August was the UK's favourite crossover the eye-catching Nissan Qashqai closely followed by the VW Polo. The BMW 3 Series heads-up the executive sector as the eighth best-seller in August followed by its little brother the 1 Series and the Peugeot 208 makes the top ten too.

Motoring experts predict September sales of brand new 63 plate cars will continue the trend with an increase on 2012 figures of at least 7%.