Total new car registrations in October were up by 4.01% year-on-year to 157,314 units, pushing the year-to-date total to 1,952,238, up by 10.18%.

As such, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has increased its forecast for total annual sales from 2.22 million, predicted in July, to 2.25 million, or roughly 10% above the total for 2012.

Go deeper with GlobalData

Data Insights

The gold standard of business intelligence.

Find out more

The SMMT also believes the new car market will see 1% growth in 2014 and 2015.

Private demand

The market has continued to grow year-on-year each month for the past 20 months on the back of private demand, as highlighted in May, July and September 2013, and March 2012 among others.

Private demand saw 71,235 new cars registered in October, up 4.47% year-on-year, and 940,659 registered year-to-date, up 15.68%. Meanwhile, fleet and business car registrations combined were up 3.63% to 86,079 units in October, and up by 5.51% for the year to date to 1,011,579.

How well do you really know your competitors?

Access the most comprehensive Company Profiles on the market, powered by GlobalData. Save hours of research. Gain competitive edge.

Company Profile – free sample

Thank you!

Your download email will arrive shortly

Not ready to buy yet? Download a free sample

We are confident about the unique quality of our Company Profiles. However, we want you to make the most beneficial decision for your business, so we offer a free sample that you can download by submitting the below form

By GlobalData
Visit our Privacy Policy for more information about our services, how we may use, process and share your personal data, including information of your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.

The top three best-selling marques in the UK continued to be Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen, in that order, in October, with 13.56%, 11.52% and 8.01% market share respectively. Audi appears to have established itself in fourth place with 6.81% market share for the month, 6.40% for the year, pulling away from BMW in fifth.

The Ford Fiesta was the best-selling model for the month with 8,574 registrations, and remains the best-selling model for the year so far with 104,621 registrations.

Kia, which has spoken of its retail ambitions throughout 2013, registered 63,410 new cars in the first 10 months of the year.

richard.brown@timetric.com