Buyers head to showrooms in January despite rising car costs

The rising cost of new cars and VAT increase did little to deter new car buyers in January.

This latest rise in registrations comes despite increasing car costs including the VAT increase from 15 per cent back to 17.5 per cent on January and further price rises from some manufacturers at the end of 2009.

Official figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) show that registrations were up by 29 per cent on January 2009 with 145,479 cars registered.

However, while the figures may be up on January 2009 registrations, they are still down by more than 16,000 on January 2008 registrations.

Scrappage sales continued to play a part in the top selling cars as the Hyundai i10 - the most popular car under the scheme - was the eighth best selling car for the month.

Originally buyers had until February to take advantage of the cash-for-scrap scheme, but this has now been extended to the end of March or when the £400m funding has run out.

The Ford Fiesta continued to dominate as the top selling car for the month after being the best selling car for the whole of 2009. Small cars continued to fill the top ten registered cars for the month as more buyers look to downsize their car.

• The best selling cars in January (private and fleet registrations combined)

1 Ford Fiesta 8885 2 Ford Focus 6953 3 Vauxhall Corsa 5788 4 Volkswagen Polo 5707 5 Vauxhall Astra 5075

• The worst performing manufacturers in January (private and fleet registrations combined)