Motor Trader The award-winning and longest running UK magazine for car retailing professionals. Your first stop for News, Jobs and Reports for the motor industry.
New car registrations rose 8.2% in April to 176,820 units, the 26th consecutive month of growth.
Year to date registrations are ahead 12.5% to 864,942 units, according to figures from the SMMT.
It said continuing improvements in economic conditions was bolstering consumer confidence, fuelling registrations.
As a result, it has revised up its 2014 market forecast from 2.3 million to more than 2.4 million registrations.
“After the bumper plate-change month of March, the UK car market returned to more modest but still positive growth in April, with new car registrations up 8.2% to 176,820 units,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
“This marks 26 consecutive months of growth as GDP continues to pick up, inflation falls and wage levels improve.
“As UK economic confidence improves still further and the market continues its upward trend, we have revised our 2014 forecast up from 2.3 million to over 2.4 million registrations. This represents an increase of more than 6% versus last year,” he said.
Commenting on the figures, Chris Sutton, managing director of motor finance provider Black Horse said: “Car manufacturers continue to offer competitive promotions and attractive finance deals to attract customers into showrooms to buy new cars.
“As long as we have low interest rates it is likely that car finance deals will remain appealing for those consumers considering buying a new car.”