Diesel new car registrations storm ahead in July

* Total year-to-date registrations up 2.4 per cent to 1,443,576 units

* Year-to-date diesel registrations rise by 6.6 per cent to 562,917 units

* July full market total of 176,277 units, up 4.9 per cent on previous year

* Private registrations up for fifth month this year, with 2.8 per cent rise in July

‘Trying to predict the spending habits of the motorist is as tricky as forecasting the British weather, and July has given us both of those challenges in spades,’ says Christopher Macgowan, chief executive of SMMT. ‘In spite of interest rate rise concerns and the traditional quiet holiday period, new car registrations have exceeded expectations. Interestingly, diesel cars took a whopping 41.2 per cent share of the total registrations, which should help government and industry with their CO₂ reduction targets.’

For more, please see the attached documents.

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