The number plate change in September helped the month’s new car registrations to outperform expectations, according to the latest figures issued by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
September is traditionally a boom month as customers buy new-plate cars. The total number of new car registrations for the month was 332,476. It's the second-largest single month for registrations so far this year, behind March’s 366,101 units, and should represent almost 17 per cent of the number of new car registrations for the entire year.
The Ford Fiesta maintained its position as the UK’s best-selling new car, with the Ford Focus relegating the Vauxhall Corsa to third position in the sales charts.
Read Autocar's report on last month's car sales
Paul Everitt, chief executive of the SMMT, said: “The all-important September market outperformed expectations and is less than one per cent below last year. We expected 2011 to be a challenging year and we are on track for a full year total of about 1.92 million new car registrations, five per cent below 2010.”
Everitt said the SMMT had revised down its new car registration forecast for 2012 in light of the continued weaknesses in UK domestic demand and economic uncertainty across Europe. The organisation predicts that 1.96 million new cars will be registered next year.
September’s best sellers
1 Ford Focus, 14,7543 Volkswagen Golf, 10,6285 Volkswagen Polo, 86077 Mini, 69039 Nissan Qashqai, 6068
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