New car sales jump 26.6% in March

Total registrations for the month numbered 397,383, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) with small cars and super minis again the biggest sellers. Ford's Fiesta and Focus topped the leaderboard followed by Vauxhall's Astra and Focus. All sales types continued with the positive trend from the start of the year and reported growth but the private sector posted the largest gain, up 33.5% in the month and 37.8% in the first quarter of the year. March sales by fuel type revealed that while diesel lost market share – falling to 40.7% from 43.4% – petrol powered cars gained 2.5% to total 58.4%. However the most significant change in registrations was that of alternatively-fuelled vehicles (AFVs) that increased by 58.3% to 3,572 cars with market share up from 0.7% to 0.9% last month. Sales in March and indeed for the last nine months have been underpinned by the scrappage incentive scheme, which ended at last month. The scheme accounted for 12.2% of sales in March and the SMMT suggested that over the coming months just under 20,000 vehicles from the scheme are being delivered. SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt (pictured) said: "The coming months will remain challenging and headline registration numbers are expected to dip, but underlying demand will continue to improve slowly."