SMMT revises car sales prediction

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The car insurance industry has received a boost with news that sales of new vehicles will not decline this year by as much as first predicted.

Officials from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said new registrations for 2010 would reach around 1.92 million - a 3.6 per cent reduction on last year's figure.

While the rate represents a dip, it is significantly lower than the 8.9 per cent predicted by the SMMT in January, an estimate that would have seen fewer than 1.82 million vehicles registered throughout 2010.

Better-than expected sales for the first quarter of the year, fuelled largely by the Government's car scrappage scheme, prompted the revised prediction, the SMMT said.

It also changed its forecast for van sales in 2010, predicting they would rise 8.6 per cent to 202,000 compared with the January 2010 forecast of an increase of only 0.7 per cent.

SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said: "Our latest forecasts reflect the better-than-expected results in the first quarter and improving consumer confidence."

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