- UK new car registrations rose 7.9% to 66,749 units in February 2013.
- Registrations over the year-to-date increased 10.3% to 210,392 units.
- Growth boosted by private demand again, with February securing the highest growth in the private market since the end of the Scrappage Incentive Scheme in Spring 2010.
- Registrations of petrol and alternatively-fuelled cars rose more than a fifth in February.
- February is typically the smallest volume monthly market, ahead of the registration plate-change in March.
“UK new car registrations have risen every month for the last year with February continuing the trend, growing 7.9% year-on-year boosted by the highest increase in private consumer demand since spring 2010,” said Mike Baunton, Interim Chief Executive, SMMT. “However, February is traditionally a low volume month as motorists look forward to the plate-change in March, but attractive new car deals are sustaining the market. New models are delivering ever greater fuel efficiency, practicality, refinement, technology and predictable ownership costs, so motorists are seeing the benefit of new car purchases.”
February 2013 new car registrations data
| February | Total | Diesel | Petrol | AFV | Private | Fleet | Business |
| 2013 | 66,749 | 32,327 | 33,588 | 834 | 29,282 | 35,759 | 1,708 |
| 2012 | 61,868 | 33,324 | 27,885 | 659 | 22,723 | 37,412 | 1,733 |
| % change | 7.9% | -3.0% | 20.5% | 26.6% | 28.9% | -4.4% | -1.4% |
| Mkt share ’13 | 48.4% | 50.3% | 1.2% | 43.9% | 53.6% | 2.6% | |
| Mkt share ’12 | 53.9% | 45.1% | 1.1% | 36.7% | 60.5% | 2.8% | |
| Year-to-date | Total | Diesel | Petrol | AFV | Private | Fleet | Business |
| 2013 | 210,392 | 105,164 | 102,107 | 3,121 | 90,357 | 110,967 | 9,068 |
| 2012 | 190,721 | 102,504 | 85,439 | 2,778 | 75,416 | 108,333 | 6,972 |
| % change | 10.3% | 2.6% | 19.5% | 12.3% | 19.8% | 2.4% | 30.1% |
| Mkt share ’13 | 50.0% | 48.5% | 1.5% | 42.9% | 52.7% | 4.3% | |
| Mkt share ’12 | 53.7% | 44.8% | 1.5% | 39.5% | 56.8% | 3.7% |
February 2013 best sellers
| Best sellers | February | Year-to-date | |||||||||||
| 1 | Focus | 3,853 | 1 | Fiesta | 11,561 | ||||||||
| 2 | Fiesta | 3,655 | 2 | Focus | 9,647 | ||||||||
| 3 | Corsa | 3,214 | 3 | Corsa | 8,392 | ||||||||
| 4 | Golf | 2,413 | 4 | Astra | 7,643 | ||||||||
| 5 | Astra | 2,181 | 5 | Qashqai | 6,136 | ||||||||
| 6 | Qashqai | 1,856 | 6 | Golf | 5,748 | ||||||||
| 7 | Polo | 1,437 | 7 | 208 | 4,382 | ||||||||
| 8 | 208 | 1,423 | 8 | Polo | 4,322 | ||||||||
| 9 | C-Class | 1,317 | 9 | C-Class | 3,673 | ||||||||
| 10 | Juke | 1,106 | 10 | Juke | 3,628 | ||||||||
Excel tables of month and YTD UK sales volumes and market shares by manufacturer can be downloaded via https://www.smmt.co.uk/2013/03/new-car-market-posts-12th-successive-month-of-growth-in-february/
