Britain's new car sales hit new high

New car sales in Britain surged to the highest level in five years, with total registration exceeding 2.26 million units in 2013, said the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) on Tuesday. That meant a 10.8 percent increase year-on-year, and also surpassed the society's previous forecast for the whole year at 2.25 million. The figures indicate that Britain has overtaken France to become the second largest car market in Europe, after Germany. Britain is the only European country with car sales growing consistently throughout the year, said the SMMT. The society predicted Britain's car market in 2014 to stabilize with sustainable growth. On average, an extra 600 cars were sold each day in 2013 than the previous year in Britain. Car sales in December soared 23.6 percent to 162,918 units. Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT, said with its best year since a pre-recession 2007, Britain's new car market has helped stimulate the country's economic recovery. The 10.8 percent increase in 2013 reflected the attractive financial offers available as well as increased demand for more technologically advanced new cars, he said. The five best sellers on the car market in 2013 were Fiesta, Focus, Corsa, Astra and Golf. SMMT figures also showed that British commercial vehicle sales rose 14.7 percent in 2013 to reach 327,291 units, the best performance in the last five years. Of that, van sales exceeded 271,000 units, up 13.1 percent year on year, and truck sales totaled 56,218 units, up 23 percent.