Small change

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (

) has reported new car registrations down by 15.7 per cent in June, the smallest decline since July 2008.

The month saw 176,264 new cars registered, beating the SMMT’s April forecast of 153,000 units.

Private buyer registrations were up 3.9 per cent year-on-year for the first time since November 2007 while business car registrations were down 34.5 per cent.

The figures also showed a market shift to smaller cars, with the mini and supermini sectors doing well. The SMMT further claims that average new-car CO₂ emissions were at a new low of 152.3g/km.

Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘We are now beginning to see the positive impact of the scrappage scheme translate into new vehicle registrations. SMMT expects the pace of improvement to increase in the coming months, but we can already see the industry making steady progress on the long road to recovery.’

Despite positive growth, the figures represent the industry’s sixth successive quarterly decline with the market down 25.9 per cent over the first half of the year. The SMMT is due to revise its full-year forecast later this month.