British new car sales up 10.6% in H1

The units of new car registered in the first six months of 2014 were 1,287,265, 10.6 percent up from the same period of 2013, and registering the best half-year total sales since 2005, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) Friday.
Market on track for 2.4 million new car registrations in 2014, up more than six percent on last year, said SMMT in a press release.
Consumer demand for efficiency has driven alternatively-fueled vehicle registration up by 51.3 percent to 23,337 units year-to-date, noted SMMT.
June saw new car registration increased by 6.2 percent from a year earlier to 228,291 units, data showed.
Among them, total commercial vehicle registration rose by 25.5 percent in June to 33,941 units, rolling year up 16.4 percent to 344,762 units. Van and truck registration rose by 33.3 percent and 19.2 percent respectively in June, and 16 percent and 18.8 percent in the first six months of the year, data also showed.
Increased efficiency brings lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, with average British new car CO2 output has reduced by 6.5 percent between the first quarter of 2012 and the second quarter of 2014, noted SMMT.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said in a statement:" Improving economic conditions have helped propel the UK new car market to a strong first half-year performance, with registrations up 10.6 percent on the same period in 2013."
"The overall market has risen faster than we were expecting but, after a bumper March, growth is showing signs of stabilizing around our forecast level," he added.