FLEETS accounted for more than half of UK new car registrations in 2015, up 11.8% to a whopping 1.3 million as the national total topped 2.6 million vehicles for the first time.

The market has posted increases in all bar one of the past 46 months and a bumper December – the biggest ever, up 8.4% – saw 180,077 new cars registered with over 100,000 of those for fleets.

Overall, the market rose 6.3% in 2015 to 2,633,503 units – exceeding forecast and outperforming the last record year in 2003 when 2,579,050 new cars left the UK’s showrooms. This is only the fourth time that the market has surpassed 2.5 million vehicles in a full year.

Growth was enjoyed across all sectors, with UK fleets boosting demand by 11.8% to reach all time high fleet sales of 1.3 million cars for half the total market while appetite in the private sector, also robust, rose only 2.5%.

Gains were reported across all fuel types, with petrol and diesel registrations up 8.4% and 3% respectively with equal market shares.

Alternatively fuelled vehicle (AFV) demand, meanwhile, grew 40.3%, securing the biggest ever market share of 2.8% for a year. Plug-in hybrids experienced phenomenal growth, with volumes more than doubling, while pure electric vehicles saw an uplift of around 50%.

Reporting the figures, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “The new car market defied expectations in 2015, hitting an all time record driven by strong consumer and business confidence.

“Buyers took advantage of attractive finance deals and low inflation to secure some of the most innovative, high tech and fuel efficient vehicles ever produced. The past four years have seen a remarkable period of sustained growth, and the outlook remains positive with every reason to expect the market to hold broadly steady in 2016.”

And the top sellers are…

Ford Fiesta is the UK best seller by a significant margin