Fleet registrations dropped to just 43.5% of new cars in August as the scrappage scheme pushed retail buyers towards showrooms. The traditional dead month before the 1 September new registration plate saw retail registrations 45.4% up on August 2008 at 37,859 while fleet was 21.6% down at 29,147. The net result was a market 6.0% up, though it's still 21.5% behind 2008 over the first eight months of the year.

So far this year, fleet is still 27.6% down, meaning August was a better month than the average over the first eight.

As usual, Ford topped the manufacturer chart from Vauxhall with VW in third, though Audi's fourth place was five spots ahead of BMW, the prestige brand it is normally nip-and-tuck with every month.