New car registrations were the highest for 14 years in May.
SMMT said 203,585 cars were registered in the month, the highest May figure since 2002.
It was a steady 2.5% growth over the same month last year, and follows the trend of the previous two months, as fleet registrations drove the growth, with an 8.8% rise counterbalancing a -3.0% fall in registrations to private customers.
Demand for diesel cars grew 5.0%, outstripping that for petrol models, which saw a marginal decline of -0.6%. Uptake of alternatively fuelled vehicles, meanwhile, continued to outpace the overall market with registrations increasing by 12.1%.
So far, 1,164,870 cars have now been registered in 2016, some 4.1% ahead of the same period last year. | Heavy commercial vehicle sales grew 13% in May, with vans up 1.9% and pick-ups by 9.6%. |
But it was also the second consecutive month of sub-3% growth in registrations, evidence of a slowdown in demand after an unexpectedly good 2015.
In Wales last month, 6,666 new cars were registered, a very modest 0.69% rise over the same time last year.
May top ten in UK | Wales top ten | |
Fiesta | Fiesta | |
Golf | Kuga | |
Focus | Focus | |
Corsa | Mokka | |
Qashqai | Polo | |
Astra | Golf | |
Polo | Corsa | |
Mini | Yaris | |
MB C Class | Sandero | |
BMW 3 Series | Astra |