According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders sales of new cars rose by almost 2% due to the introduction of new registration plates back in March.
March is typically a strong month for new car registrations with the a new plate change evidently boosting sales. There were 372,835 new car registrations in March 2012, with total sales since the start of the year exceeding 560,000, a 0.9% rise compared to 2011’s January – March figures. Private registrations had one of the biggest monthly increases in the past two years with sales up by 7.4% when compared to last year.
The number of new cars sold totalled 20,000 more than SMMT’s original forecast. SMMT believes that their predictions of £1.97million cars sold at the end of the year will also be exceeded. However, the figure was still 17% lower than the pre-recession March total.
Diesel sales rose 4.7% last month and sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles increased by more than 5.5%, although they only account for 1.5% of the overall market whilst sales of diesel cars account for just over half of the market at 50.4%.
SMMT Chief Executive, Paul Everitt, said that this is the third consecutive month of retail growth. He also added that domestic demand for cars are showing signs of recovery with buyers taking advantage of a wider range of excellent products and the new 12-plate. SMMT also shared that the top selling car in March 2012 was the Ford Fiesta, followed by the Vauxhall Corsa and the Ford Focus at two and three respectively. Cars manufactured in the UK account for almost 15% of the total sales compared with 13.3% last year.