Nearly 190,000 new cars were registered to business in March, the first month of the new ’07’ number plate designation.
The total of 189,884 was 3.8% up on March 2006 and is higher than the traditionally slow months of January and February put together.
The total for the first quarter of 2007 was 326,830, 4.8% up on the first three months of 2006, compared with a retail market 1.2% up.
Chevrolet doubled its March ’06 figures, although that’s still only 856 units, and Lexus enjoyed a strong March with 64.3% growth. Audi was up 40.9% with only the A8 not up year-on-year, while Honda’s Civic was the driving force behind a 34.1% increase.
On the flip side, it was a painful month in fleet for the Koreans, with Hyundai down 24.8% and Kia down 46.7%, while the Swedes also struggled. Volvo dropped 17.5% and Saab 18.2%.
Ford (up 4.2%) topped the chart as usual, in front of Vauxhall (-0.2%), with VW, Renault and Peugeot rounding out the top five in that order, and Audi beating BMW to sixth.
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