Sales of new cars soar in November

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Sales of new cars soared last month, with consumers cashing in on the Government's car scrappage scheme and the new car insurance policy that comes with it.

Figures show a 57.6% increase in the registration of new vehicles during November 2009, compared with November 2008. The sales for the month were on a par with November 2007.

But despite 158,082 new vehicles being registered last month, the total registrations for the 11 months from January to November were still down 8.8% compared to the same period last year at 1.84 million.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) chief executive Paul Everitt said: "The increase in new car registrations in November reflects the positive impact of the scrappage scheme, customers avoiding the VAT increase in January and the very difficult conditions we experienced a year ago."

The SMMT said the Government's "cash for bangers" scheme accounted for some 21.6% of new sales last month and now predicts the sales total for 2009 will pass 1.95 million. The 2008 total was 2.13 million.

Last month's figures look particularly good as the November 2008 total showed the deepest monthly decline in the 15-month run of falls in sales - a sequence that finally ended in July this year.

These were the best-selling models in November 2009: 1. Ford Fiesta 2. Ford Focus 3. Vauxhall Corsa 4. Vauxhall Astra 5. BMW 3 Series 6. Peugeot 207 7. Renault Clio 8. Volkswagen Golf 9. Nissan Qashqai 10. Mini

Copyright © Press Association 2009

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