Double-digit growth for the UK car industry in July has prompted analysts to improve their forecast for this year's new car registrations
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has increased its predictions for this year’s new car registrations in reaction to strong growth across the private, fleet and business sectors last month.
New car registrations grew by 12.7 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2012. A total of 162,228 units were registered during the month and it was the 17th successive monthly rise for the UK market.
The SMMT has upgraded its previous cautious forecast and now predicts that sales for the whole of 2013 will hit 2.216 million vehicles, 8.4 per cent ahead of last year.
“Recently we’ve seen a range of economic indicators point to improving conditions, and our raised sales forecast emphasises how positively we view the rest of 2013,” said Mike Baunton, SMMT interim chief executive.
The new car registrations continue to be equally shared between petrol and diesel fuels. For the year to July, petrol held a 49.4 per cent market share and diesel 49.3 per cent. Alternatively fuelled vehicles accounted for the remaining 1.3 per cent of the market.
However, the number of pure electric and plug-in hybrids registered in the UK is continuing to increase. Registrations have increased by 70.7 per cent compared with the first seven months of 2012, with 1885 vehicles registered.
The Ford Fiesta continued its reign as the UK’s most popular car, with 9089 registered during July.
UK’s new cars registrations for July 2013
1 Ford Fiesta 9089 units
2 Ford Focus 7229
3 Vauxhall Astra 6165
4 Volkswagen Golf 5166
5 Vauxhall Corsa 4986
6 Nissan Qashqai 4312
7 BMW 3-series 3070
8 Volkswagen Polo 3001
9 Nissan Juke 2943
10 Fiat 500 2768