New car sales have gone into reverse for the fourth month in a row and were down over 9% in July with businesses taking a quarter less cars, said the SMMT.
Diesel powered models fell 20% while alternatively fuelled vehicles soared nearly 65% and market leaders Ford and Vauxhall were very badly hit while PSA Group saw a steep decline as well and Volkswagen Group brands all improved.
July totals were 161,372 new cars in the UK and in Wales registrations fell by 12% to 5,123 new cars.
The best sellers in Wales last month were: Focus 207, Kuga 157, Fiesta 136, Golf 129, Polo 114, Sportage 106, Qashqai 103, Sandero 100, Corsa 98 and Juke 86.