New car sales up almost a third as recovery takes hold

New car sales are up 28 per cent so far this year compared to the first two months of last year. February sales rose 21 per cent on the same month in 2013, building on an already bouyant January figure.

In the light commercial vehicle market, often judged as a bellwether for economic activity, sales were up 41 per cent in February compared to the same month last year.

Alan Nolan, SIMI Director General said: "The Motor Industry is often the first to be affected when there's a downturn and one of the first to come back when the economy improves. Dealers are undoubtedly seeing a lot more confidence among consumers, many of whom have been putting off making large purchases over the last few years.

“Feedback from dealers confirms that footfall and sales enquiries are holding up well and there is no doubt that it’s the return of consumers to the market, as opposed to business purchasers, that is fuelling the increased business. Better availability of finance for creditworthy consumers combined with improved consumer confidence have helped make this a very good start to 2014 for the Industry.

There were 12,753 new cars registered last month, compared with 10,579 in February 2013.

Volkswagen is the best-selling brand so far this year with 4,296 registrations, just slightly ahead of Toyota with 4,152. Ford is some way off in third place with 3,445, while Hyundai continues to perform strongly with 3,237 registrations. Skoda takes up fifth place with 2,595 sales. The best-selling cars over the first two months are the VW Golf, Ford Focus and Toyota Corolla, although there was a strong performance by the Nissan Qashqai, which only arrived in showrooms last month.