New car sales broke all records in the UK last year.
The SMMT said 2,633,503 new cars were registered helped by a bumper December of 180,077 and fleet registrations over 1.3 Million during the year.
The sales last year went up 6.3% over 2014, exceeding predictions and the 2003 record of 2.5 Million. Wales and England were the only parts of the UK to record higher sales in 2015.
The boost has been put down to manufacturers and dealers offering financial incentives and low rates and they are expected to continue this year, said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes.
The best sellers in 2015 were:
| 1 Ford Fiesta | 133,434 | 6 VW Polo | 54,900 |
| 2 Vauxhall Corsa | 92,077 | 7 Vauxhall Astra | 52,703 |
| 3 Ford Focus | 83,816 | 8 Audi A3 | 47,653 |
| 4 VW Golf | 73,409 | 9 Mini | 47,076 |
| 5 Nissan Qashqai | 60,814 | 10 Vauxhall Mokka | 45,399 |
Half of the Fiesta’s sold in the UK have petrol or diesel engines build in Bridgend and Dagenham and the car has enjoyed its seventh consecutive year at the top of UK sales charts. Last year’s sales rise of over 2,000 compared to 2014 put it over 41,300 or 1.6% ahead of its closest rival.
It was the best ever year for Audi UK sales, exceeding 166,700 registrations, a 5% rise over the previous 12 months and beating its own expectations.
The boom of on-line shopping has been put down to the reason behind record commercial vehicle sales, particularly vans, last year.
SMMT added that registrations last year were also a record 423,894 sales, a 16.7% jump over 2014 and including 371,830, the best since 2007.
Last year saw a 2.53% rise in registrations in Wales to 93,225 cars and Wales top ten best sellers were:
| 1 Ford Fiesta | 7,801 | 6 Vauxhall Mokka | 2,014 |
| 2 Vauxhall Corsa | 3,636 | 7 Nissan Qashqai | 1,693 |
| 3 Ford Focus | 3,551 | 8 VW Golf | 1,601 |
| 4 Ford Kuga | 2,260 | 9 Dacia Sandero | 1,533 |
| 5 VW Polo | 2,054 | 10 Fiat 500 | 1,469 |
