In Britain, new-car sales increased by an annual 38.9% in December, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders. This represents the sixth consecutive monthly rise however, car registrations for the entire year are at its lowest since 1995.

The industry body said the government incentive scheme aided in the sales of 150,936 cars last month, the third best December on record and the highest since 2005. Another factor that helped was the decision of buyers to bring forward their purchases to avoid a rise in sales tax in January. Under the scrappage program, drivers were given 2,000 pounds to trade in their cars that are more than 10 years old for a new model that’s more fuel-efficient. Continued after the jump!

The scheme, which will end in February, accounted for more than a fifth of all new car sales. The best seller in December was the Ford Fiesta, which also tops the table for the year, with more than 117,000 sold in 2009.

Taking second place is Ford’s Focus model. The first half of 2009 had extremely weak sales and that’s how full-year registrations dropped 6.4% to 1,994,999 cars. This is the first time that registration fell below 2 million since 1995.

Paul Everitt, SMMT CEO, said that 2010 would be another tough year for the UK motor industry. He expects new car registrations would be below 2009 levels and that the van and heavy commercial vehicle markets would only have limited recovery.

[via autonewssub. required]

Tags: car news, december uk car sales, uk car sales

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 12:31 am and is filed under 2009, 4wheels News, U.K., Year, Zone.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Recent News:

• Cars, Trucks, Car Pictures, Learn to read, learning to read, childrens books, childrens nonfiction
• 1KOB9045 Crayola Mess Free Color Wonder Disney Pixar Cars 2 Markers and Coloring Pad
• Name That Shifter, No. 77: 1979 TVR 3000S
• One-Off Shelby GT500 Created for Charity Auction
• VW Beetle Convertible to Launch with ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s Editions at L.A. Show
• Mazda Sharing Next-Gen Miata Architecture with Alfa Romeo
• Wankel Rotary Engine: A History
• Porsche 928, 924, 944, and 968: The Front-engined Sports Car

Details :
Submited at Saturday, January 9th, 2010 at 11:05 pm on Uncategorized by madison
Comment RSS 2.0 - leave a comment - trackback