New car sales grew by over 8 per cent last month, according to the latest figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
A total of 176,820 cars were registered last month, with April 2014 marking the 26th consecutive month of growth for the UK new car market.
The SMMT attributes the growth to improvements in economic conditions bolstering consumer confidence, and has revised its forecast for 2014 sales from 2.3 million to more than 2.4 million registrations.
If the SMMT's prediction is accurate, 2014 is set to become the strongest year for new car sales since 2005, bringing the market back to well above pre-recession figures.
The Ford Fiesta remains Britain's best-selling car, followed by the Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Vauxhall Corsa and Audi A3. The Nissan Qashqai is fifth, with the Vauxhall Astra, VW Polo, Nissan Juke and Fiat 500 rounding off the top ten.
"After the bumper plate-change month of March, the UK car market returned to more modest but still positive growth in April, with new car registrations up 8.2% to 176,820 units," said Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive. "This marks 26 consecutive months of growth as GDP continues to pick up, inflation falls and wage levels improve.
"As UK economic confidence improves still further and the market continues its upward trend, we have revised our 2014 forecast up from 2.3 million to over 2.4 million registrations. This represents an increase of more than 6% versus last year."
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