New car registrations off to a strong start in January

The UK’s new car market has got off to the strongest start to the year since 2007, with more than 164,000 registrations in January.

New figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveals that January marked the 35th consecutive month of new car growth.

A total of 164,856 new cars were sold in the UK in the first month of 2015, a rise of 6.7 per cent compared with the same period last year. Sales of company cars were particularly high, with more than 89,000 vehicles going to the fleet sector, while sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles grew by more than 60 per cent on last year, with 4598 units sold.

Despite this strong start to the year, however, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes is urging caution, saying he expects “to see some levelling off throughout the year”.

“Demand is back to pre-recession levels following record-breaking growth,” he said.

UK’s best-selling cars in January 2015

1 - Ford Fiesta - 8674 units registered

2 - Vauxhall Corsa - 6879

3 - Ford Focus - 4824

4 - Nissan Qashqai - 4676

5 - Volkswagen Golf - 4387

6 - Audi A3 - 3648

7 - Mercedes-Benz C-class - 3534

8 - Volkswagen Polo - 3517

9 - Fiat 500 - 3145

10 - Vauxhall Astra - 2996

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