UK new car sales rose 6.6% year on year to 172,907 units in July, the 29th consecutive month of growth.

The SMMT said “economic confidence and attractive finance have driven the market up” as year to date volume rose 10.2% to 1,460,172 units.

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“Faster-than-expected first half-year growth” led SMMT to revise its full year forecast up to 2.45m registrations (from 2.4m a month ago) which, if reached, would be a rise of 8.1% on 2013’s final tally.

But SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The more moderate growth of the last three months shows that overall demand is beginning to stabilise.”

July Total Diesel Petrol AFV Private Fleet Business
               
2014 172,907 91,324 78,291 3,292 76,738 88,256 7,913
2013 162,228 82,290 77,506 2,432 71,539 83,763 6,926
% change 6.6% 11.0% 1.0% 35.4% 7.3% 5.4% 14.3%
Mkt share ’14   52.8% 45.3% 1.9% 44.4% 51.0% 4.6%
Mkt share ’13   50.7% 47.8% 1.5% 44.1% 51.6% 4.3%
               
Year-to-date Total Diesel Petrol AFV Private Fleet Business
               
2014 1,460,172 734,197 699,346 26,629 700,378 690,369 69,425
2013 1,325,851 653,035 654,957 17,859 628,964 639,306 57,581
% change 10.1% 12.4% 6.8% 49.1% 11.4% 8.0% 20.6%
Mkt share ’14   50.3% 47.9% 1.8% 48.0% 47.3% 4.8%
Mkt share ’13   49.3% 49.4% 1.3% 47.4% 48.2% 4.3%
               
  2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Total cars 2,404,007 2,131,795 1,994,999 2,030,846 1,941,253 2,044,609 2,264,737
               
Best sellers July       Year-to-date
               
  1 Ford Fiesta 8,854   1 Ford Fiesta 79,007
  2 Ford Focus 6,013   2 Ford Focus 50,767
  3 Vauxhall Corsa 5,467   3 Vauxhall Corsa 47,752
  4 Volkswagen Golf 5,135   4 Volkswagen Golf 43,277
  5 Nissan Qashqai 4,729   5 Vauxhall Astra 36,578
  6 Vauxhall Astra 4,267   6 Nissan Qashqai 30,919
  7 Audi A3 3,522   7 Audi A3 26,638
  8 Fiat 500 3,021   8 Volkswagen Polo 25,161
  9 BMW 3 Series 2,625   9 Fiat 500 24,707
  10 MINI 2,384   10 BMW 3 Series 22,832

Data courtesy SMMT

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