Private sales continued to lead the way as the new car market registered its 30th consecutive month of growth in August, taking the total number of new cars brought to the UK market in 2014 to over 1.5million, according to statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

August’s registration growth was 9.4% year-on-year, with 72,613 vehicles registered. By comparison sales for July were over 172,000.
Sue Robinson, director of National Franchised Dealers Association (NFDA) said: "It is positive and encouraging to see that the new car market continued to thrive during August in what is traditionally a low volume month for car sales"

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According to the SMMT, August traditionally only accounts for 3% of annual sales. September, on the other hand more commonly accounts for 18% of sales.
"August is traditionally a small market as buyers wait for the plate change on 1 September before purchasing a new vehicle.

Therefore, after such a positive increase in sales during August, we anticipate that sales of the new 64-plate to do very well" continued Robinson.

Despite the consistently strong rises in the market, the SMMT speculated that the market’s growth will potentially flatten in coming months.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT said: "The UK’s performance in the context of Europe is particularly impressive, with growth consistently ahead of the rest of the EU for the past two years. As the UK market starts to find its natural level, we expect to see the growth level off during coming months."

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Chris Sutton, managing director of Black Horse, said: "There is a lot of discussion about when the car market will cool given the record month-on-month increases that have been witnessed in the UK automotive sector but for the moment we appear to still be witnessing good news in the industry. Overall the car industry has a lot to be proud of in terms of sustained recovery, meeting consumer demand with the right mix of good finance offers that makes owning a car affordable and manufacturers working hard to deliver innovative and fuel efficient cars. "We will now have to wait and see what next month’s figures deliver for the all important September plate change month which we would anticipate will bring good news for motor dealers and manufacturers alike. Long term the motor industry will need to start considering how it will continue to maintain this very positive momentum and attract customers to consider buying a new car.

By segment
Private sales marginally led the August growth despite remaining a slightly smaller share of the overall new car market. Of the total registrations, 48.3% were private and 49.4% fleet. This represented 34,857 and 35,632 new vehicles respectively. This reverses the position of July when 44.4% of the market was private sales and 51% fleet.

Business car registrations, which had a 4.6% market share in July, fell to 2.3% of the market with just 1,674 new cars. This was also a cut in market share of 0.7% compared to a year earlier.

Diesel remained the most popular fuel type among buyers with 35,931 vehicles registered, in comparison to 34,974 petrol powered cars. Alternatively fuelled vehicles continued to show strong growth, up 35.9% year-on-year to 1,258, but at just 1.7% of the market they remain a distinctly niche power choice at present.

Ford’s Fiesta model remained the consumer’s choice of car, selling over 4,600 in August, just under twice as many as the next biggest selling vehicle, the Ford Focus at 2,740.

Vauxhall managed to sell three of the top ten best-selling vehicles in August, with the Corsa, Insignia and Astra. These helped Vauxhall take 12.2% of the market with 8,817 vehicles registered.

Overall however Ford managed to extend its lead in overall market-share by 25.53% in August. It registered over 11,200 new vehicles in August overall, giving it a market share of 15.56%.

Of the volume manufacturers, the Renault Nissan alliance saw the strongest growth in market share in the year to end of August, with the Renault brand up 62.14% on the year before to 2.46% of the market. Dacia, its budget brand, has grown its market share by 69.75% and has sold over 15,000 vehicles in the UK to the end of August.

Among luxury brands, Maserati, with its slew of new models in 2014, showed extraordinary growth. The Italian sports car maker had sold just 763 vehicles in the year-to-date but this equated to a growth in market share of 261.1%.