New car sales rising in UK

The latest new car sale figures in the UK will be announced today, with registrations expected to rise for a fifth successive month.

The November 2009 statistics, from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), follow a big increase of 31.6% in sales in October.

The British government's "cash for bangers" scrappage scheme has been the main reason for the recent sales boom.

But there are now concerns that sales could fall when the government money for the initiative is used up - probably around February.

The scrappage scheme was introduced in May this year and followed months of gloom for the motor industry. Sales slumped and there were major production cutbacks, with Honda ceasing manufacturing at its Swindon plant in Wiltshire for four months.

By July, monthly new registrations were up for the first time in 15 months. At first the rise was modest - just 2.4% - but the August increase was 6.0% and the new number plate month of September saw an 11.4% rise.

The October increase of 31.6% was nearly 4% above the average for the month for the period 1999-2008.

But even with the welcome autumn sales, the total registrations for the first 10 months of 2009 were down 12.3% compared with the January-October 2008 period.

The SMMT said last month that it expected sales for the whole of 2009 to be just less than 1.93 million, which would be around 200,000 fewer than in 2008.