Ford has a fiesta as sales race ahead

Scotland’s new car market continued to outpace the rest of the UK last month as private buyers flocked to showrooms.

Picture: complimentary

Industry bosses said a string of more environmentally friendly models were proving attractive and persuading consumer that it was “cheaper to run a new car than an old one”.

Figures yesterday showed that a total of 15,377 new cars were registered in Scotland last month, a year-on-year rise of 17.5 per cent. Across the UK as a whole, there was an 11 per cent increase to 180,111 vehicles.

Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association, said: “Private buyers in May accounted for over 55 per cent of our new car registrations and we look forward to a continuation in the coming months.

“However, our manufacturers are only cautiously optimistic about the latter part of the year as their European figures do not reflect these good UK figures.”

The figures, provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, reveal that in the first five months of the year sales north of the Border are ahead by 14.4 per cent. That compares with a UK-wide rise of 9.3 per cent.

Howard Archer, UK economist at forecasting consultancy IHS Global Insight, said: “A concern for the car industry is that consumers could limit their spending on big-ticket items over the coming months as their purchasing power is squeezed by higher consumer price inflation and muted wage growth.”

Scotland UK

1 Ford Fiesta 831 Ford Fiesta 9,316

2 Vauxhall Corsa 640 Ford Focus 7,522

3 Vauxhall Astra 497 Vauxhall Corsa 6,634

4 Ford Focus 463 Volkswagen Golf 5,247

5 Nissan Qashqai 343 Vauxhall Astra 5,211

6 Volkswagen Golf 324 Nissan Qashqai 4,243

7 Renault Clio 303 BMW 3-Series 3,828

8 Volkswagen Polo 285 Volkswagen Polo 3,201

9 Fiat 500 266 Peugeot 208 3,083

10 Peugeot 208 236 Audi A3 3,055

Source: SMMT