The first quarter of 2016 saw impressive growth in the UK car market and April has continued to see increases. In the month there 189,505 new cars registered, representing a 2% rise compared to 2015. The figures come from the SMMT and are the best figures in April since 2003 when 194,312 new cars registered.
The top selling car remains to be the Ford Fiesta which shifted 7,913 model, with the Volkswagen Golf and Ford Focus with 5,645 and 5,562 respectively. The Fiesta also remains to be the best-selling car year-to-date with a figure of 44,240. This figure is miles ahead of 2nd place Vauxhall Corsa which sits on 28,639 new models registered and 3rd place Ford Focus which has shifted 26,218 models.
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The growth in April was led by the fleet and business sectors which saw increases of 6.1% and 2.8% respectively. Private registrations saw a fall though, with a decrease of 2.5%. Diesel cars also saw a small decrease of 0.6% whilst petrol car registrations rose by 3.4%. Alternative fuel cars saw another sizeable increase 26.8% as buyers look to embrace hybrids and electric vehicles.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “After such a strong March, April’s steadier performance was to be anticipated, and is in line with our expectations for the year. Consumer confidence remains high as buyers continue to capitalise on attractive finance deals, although this could be affected by political and economic uncertainty in the coming months.”