New car sales figures show month on month sales were down 7.9% on 2010 but up 5.9% if cars sold as a result of the scrappage scheme were excluded. The report has also showed consumers are now buying increasingly fuel efficient vehicles which supports the fact that Q1 records show the lowest ever average new car CO2 emissions, down 3.4% to 140.3 g/km.

Sue Robinson, director of the RMI National Franchised Dealers Association which represents franchised car retailers across the UK and Northern Ireland, commented “As predicted consumers are increasingly reviewing not only the cost of their new car, but the cost of its running and maintenance. With the rising fuel prices teamed with the current economic climate they are looking for cars that are cost effective in the long run. This in turn has seen CO2 emissions produced by new cars drop significantly. We expect that this trend to continue as alternatives to fuel cars will become more popular.

Although sales are down on 2010, the market in general is better than expected. Moving into Q2 we do expect to see another decline but for the market to stabilise in the second half of the year”