26.4% rise of new car sales in year

05 March 2010

Sales of new cars last month rose 26.4% on the February 2009 total, reaching 68,686.

The figure was 1.3% below that of February 2008 and 12.2% below the average for February from 1999 to 2009, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) when it revealed the new figures.

The Government's car scrappage scheme which is being brought to an end accounted for 19.6% of the February 2010 market in new cars. The scheme reversed a trend of year-on-year sales falling for 15 successive months, and the motor industry downturn in demand and production last year boosted the new figures.

Sales are expected to rise this month although new registrations are likely to fall in the second half of the year due to the scrappage scheme ending, said the SMMT. In addition, the total amount of registrations for 2010 are expected to be about 10% down at 1.82 million, the society added.

Sales of new Toyota cars in the UK last month held up reasonably well despite the Japanese motor giant having to recall around eight million vehicles worldwide due to a number of technical problems.

Despite the adverse publicity which this problem gathered for the company, Toyota's share of the UK market was down only by 4.91% in February this year. The company sold 3,439 cars last month compared with 2,981 in February 2009 when the overall market was smaller.

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