New car registrations in the UK were up by
7.88% year-on-year in May, according to the Society of Motor
Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It is the fourth monthly rise of
the five months recorded in 2012 so far and was boosted by private
demand.

Of the 162,288 new units sold in May, 69,672
were private sales, up 14.3% on May 2011, with 87,126 fleet sales,
up 4.8%, and 5,490 business sales, down 13.5%.

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One of the biggest growth sectors was in
alternatively-fuelled vehicles, up 31.8% to 2,108 units sold in the
month, which the SMMT attributed to new models coming to
market.

Year-to-date, new car registrations were up
2.56% on the first five months of 2011.

Continued growth

The market rise follows
April’s surprise growth in new registrations of 3.3%,
year-on-year, which saw the SMMT revise up its forecast from 1.92m
to 1.95m units sold by the end of 2012. The market in May was
itself 6%, or 9,000 units above SMMT expectations.

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March, typically the busiest month for new car
registrations,
grew by 1.8% year-on-year, while the market fell 2.5% in
February having
risen by a faint margin in January.

By brand, both Ford and Vauxhall, the two
biggest-selling marques in the UK, gained the best part of 8% in
sales compared to a year ago, although both lost fractions of their
market shares.

The Vauxhall Corsa was the most-purchased new
car in May with 8,413 units, 76 ahead of the Ford Focus, although
the Focus was the most popular new car of the year so far, selling
50,507 units, with the Corsa in second place with 38,347 sales.

Chrysler saw the biggest percentage gain in
May selling 266 units compared to 37 in the same period last year
while Audi, Citroën, Kia, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz, Mini and
Toyota each sold at least a thousand cars more than in May
2011.

richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com