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Strong car registrations boost outlook for the UK
RESILIENT car sales have provided a boost to the UK’s outlook, economists said yesterday.
New car registrations edged up by 0.03 per cent last month, compared to January 2011, figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed.
“This is surprising because almost 200,000 cars were pre-registered by the industry in December 2011 which will have depressed January 2012 new car registrations compared to January 2011,” explained John Leach of KPMG.
Howard Archer of IHS Global Insight added: “Encouragingly, private car sales rose 2.3 per cent year-on-year in January, having been very much a weak link in 2011 when they fell by 14.1 per cent over the year.”