Hyundai has achieved its best-ever market share of 1.7% with January sales rising from 1,784 to 1,885 compared to the same month last year.

Meanwhile, Mazda has made a record breaking start to 2009 with its highest ever share of the retail market, at 3.4% during January and February.

Total Mazda sales during February - including retail and fleet - also reached a new peak of 3.7%.

Mazda sales director Mark Cameron said: “Sales of the Mazda3 in February were up by 87% compared with the same month last year, while the Mazda2 increased by 57%, the Mazda5 rose by 21% and the Mazda6 was up by 13%."