Transport & Car Blog

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UK car registrations reach new high

  Friday, 30 January 2015

During 2014, almost 2.5 million cars were registered in the UK – the most in a calendar year since 2004.

52 per cent of the registrations came from fleet and business vehicles (equating to 1,296,936 units), the figure itself is an increase on the 1.2 million fleet vehicles registered in 2013.

Mike Hawes, chief executive for the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said:

“UK new car registrations returned to pre-recession levels in 2014, as pent-up demand from the recession years combined with confidence in the economy saw consumer demand for the latest models grow consistently and strongly.”

Overall, 2014 was the fourth-largest year in history in terms of registrations, with only the boom period of between 2002 and 2004 beating it.

As a result of the positive performance, the UK remains the second largest car market in the European Union, behind Germany.  It also recorded the second largest increase of any country in the top five, with growth demonstrated in every single month throughout the year.

In the fleet and business markets, December recorded a 10.6 per cent rise over the same month last year, with 100,000 units registered.  Another notable increase was the plug-in car market, which saw volumes quadruple from 3,586 in 2013 to 14,498 in 2014.

Hawes continued:

“The year was particularly strong for alternatively-fuelled vehicles as increased choice, coupled with a growing desire for reduced costs and greater efficiency, resulted in a quadrupling of plug-in car registrations over 2013.

“With a variety of new plug-in models expected in 2015, this area of the market will continue to grow significantly. For the market as a whole, we expect a more stable 2015 as demand levels off.”

The Ford Fiesta was the most commonly registered vehicle, with 131,254 units, and the Ford Focus was second with 85,140. Third was the Vauxhall Corsa with 81,783.

According to the latest data from Oxford Economics, the UK rental and leasing sector purchases a total of more than 1.5 million vehicles each year.

With more new cars on the road the likelihood of finding replacement car parts for your vehicle may well have increased. If you’re looking for used car parts to keep your vehicle running smoothly, then enter your registration into the ASM Auto Recycling parts tool, and we’ll be able to pick out compatible parts for your particular model.

• New Car Sales

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