New car sales show biggest increase of the year

New car sales increased by 31.6 per cent in October, the biggest increase of the year so far.According to the latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), October marked the fourth successive month of growth, with 168,942 new vehicles being registered, a massive increase over the same month of 2008.Growth in the private sales sector-driven by the Scrappage Scheme-were the ‘root cause’ of the increase, the society said after private registrations grew 85.95 per cent. A ‘weak base’ of sales in 2008 made the sales figures for October look all the more impressive and ‘reflects the positive impact’ of the Government’s car sales incentive, the society concluded.The top ten sellers of the month were in the majority small cars, such as those which have proved popular through the Scrappage Scheme. The best selling car of the month was the Fiesta, which is also the top selling car of the year so far, followed by the Astra and Focus.Fleet sales in October remained pretty stable on October 2008 with a 2 per cent dip while business sales grew by a modest 12.1 per cent.“October has seen this year’s biggest monthly increase in registrations with the successful scrappage scheme accounting for over 20% of them,” said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive. “We have seen additional demand created by the extension of the scheme and customers wanting to avoid the VAT increase planned for January. Encouragingly, there has also been an increase in demand in the fleet and business sectors, which will be critical in sustaining recovery next year.”

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