The fleet new car market showed a glimmer of optimism last month, recording the best year-on-year result so far in 2009.

The fleet market was 13.6% down on September 2008, compared with 25.1% down for the year to date and 21.6% down in August, prompting hopes of a recovery. But the downside for fleet was the diminished share of the market, as the scrappage scheme combined with the new '59' registration plate to see retail sales account for 62.8% of new car registrations. By comparison, the figure was 52.1% for September 2008's change to the '58' plate.

Ford continued its good form of 2009, showing sales up 13.3% thanks mainly to the popularity of the new Fiesta compared with the predecessor that was being run-out this time last year. Vauxhall was down 12.0%, ahead of the market in second place, with all of the top seven manufacturers performing above the market average, while Toyota, Nissan and Mercedes struggled, 34.8, 28.1 and 36.1% down year-on-year respectively. Honda and Renault, just outside the top ten, were down 22.9% and 40.1% respectively.