New car registrations increased 8.4% year-on-year in February to 83,395 units, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). This was the highest February figure since 2004.

Private new car registrations increased by 22.6% year-on-year, from 30,718 to 37,666. As a result of this increase, the private segment of the market increased its share from 39.9% to 45.2%. Fleet car registrations dropped 1.4% year-on-year in February to 44,254.

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Demand was up across all fuel types, with diesel and petrol registrations growing by 5.6% and 10.7% respectively, while alternatively-fuelled vehicles enjoyed an uplift of 19.9%.

Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: "February is typically one of the quietest months of the year, ahead of March’s plate change, but this positive performance is encouraging and puts the sector in a good position for the coming 12 months."

Richard Jones, managing director at Black Horse, said: "These are encouraging figures for the UK automotive industry, continuing a strong start to the year. The increase can be attributed to a combination of further growth in PCP (Personal Contract Purchase) financing, ongoing low interest rates for consumers, and continued high levels of manufacturer subsidisation, driving up the volume of affordable new cars coming into the UK market. This time next month we should have a good indication of the outlook for the rest of 2016. Whatever happens, dealers will continue to remain crucial to the car buying journey."

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Ford increased its sales by 16.8% year-on-year in February to 11,513, raising its market share by 1% to 13.8%.

Despite a 17.6% year-on-year fall in car sales, Vauxhall remained the second most popular brand with sales of 7,868. Over the same period, Volkswagen saw its sales fall by 13.2% to 6,694.

BMW and Audi followed with new car sales of 5,760 and 5,384 respectively.