Car blogs

Last month's new car sales figures showed an increase in registrations of 26.4 per cent, according to the latest figures from the SMMT.
During February a total of 68,686 cars were registered, which is an increase of 14,327 on February 2009. Although welcome, the rise follows a particularly poor February 2009, being the shortest month of the year, it's traditionally the weakest for car sales. Plus many buyers put off buying until the March registration plate change. It was 1.9 per cent lower than February 2008.
The trend of small cars dominating the top 10 continues. The largest car in the Top 10 was the BMW 3-Series, while the largest cars from Vauxhall and Ford are the Astra and Focus.
The SMMT forecasts that 2010 is expected to recover slightly, with volumes expected to push above 360,000 units for the new ‘10' plate. Over the past decade, March has been the strongest month for new car registrations, accounting for 17.8% of annual registrations. 
Much of the March recovery will be attributable to scrappage and the scheme accounted for 19.6% of the market in February. Final orders through the scheme must be made by the end of March, or sooner if funds run out. The scheme's impact will diminish during Q2 with market decline expected in the second half of 2010.
It also predicts that new car demand will be building up, after a sustained period of hold-off, but with economic recovery still fragile and uncertainty over the impacts of the Budget in March and a general election in Spring, the outlook for registrations in 2010 is subdued and cautious, with an expected decline of almost 10% to 1.82 million units.
 
February 2010 Top Ten 
1 Ford Fiesta 3,236
2 Ford Focus 3,035
3 Volkswagen Golf 2,586
4 Vauxhall Astra 2,524
5 Vauxhall Corsa 2,391
6 Hyundai i10 1,938
7 VW Polo 1,900
8 BMW 3 Series 1,599
9 Kia Picanto 1,573
10 Peugeot 207 1,422
 
Sales figures in full





MARQUE


Feb 2010


2010 to date




Abarth


33


101




Alfa Romeo


224


598




Aston Martin


27


79




Audi


2,957


10,849




Bentley


26


107




BMW


3,141


8,359




Cadillac


3


6




Chevrolet


500


1,612




Chrysler


22


140




Citroen


2,701


7,650




Corvette


0


0




Daihatsu


27


49




Daimler


0


0




Dodge


30


51




Fiat


1,752


5,724




Ford


9,915


32,043




Honda


1,663


5,994




Hummer


0


0




Hyundai


3,007


10,279




Infiniti


1


13




Jaguar


266


1,307




Jeep


89


259




Kia


3,366


8,396




Land Rover


804


3,322




Lexus


91


735




Lotus


18


44




Mazda


1,587


4,449




Mercedes-Benz


1,923


6,094




MG


8


30




MINI


973


3,108




Mitsubishi


396


938




Nissan


2,098


7,851




Opel


0


0




Perodua


29


86




Peugeot


3,533


11,912




Porsche


106


566




Proton


50


117




Renault


3,559


9,402




Saab


84


212




SEAT


904


3,196




Skoda


1,574


4,428




smart


336


760




Ssangyong


18


31




Subaru


69


287




Suzuki


778


1,839




Toyota


3,439


10,785




Vauxhall


7,950


23,953




Volkswagen


7,132


22,099




Volvo


1,378


4,024




Other British


64


161

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What was the best-selling car in February? was originally published by Honestjohn News Feed. Read the full story by clicking here.