New Vehicle Registrations Show Continued Growth

Department for Transport figures published on 6 May suggest that the growth in first-time UK vehicle registrations continued to grow in March 2010, with a 23.1 per cent year-on-year rise in vehicles registered in the month. 455.5 thousand vehicles of all types were registered in March 2010, compared with 370.1 thousand in March 2009. While this represents a palpable rise in line with year-on-year figures over the last six months, sales are still down on pre-recession figures; 535.6 thousand vehicles were registered in March 2008.

In terms of the figures by body type, passenger cars gained 82 thousand registrations, from 310.7 thousand in the month in 2009 to 393.4 thousand in March this year. Motorcycles and heavy goods vehicles experienced small decreases (15.2 versus 17.0 thousand and 3.4 versus 3.8 thousand registrations respectively). Meanwhile light goods vehicle registrations rose by a sixth, going from 30.0 thousand in March 2009 to 35.0 thousand in 2010.