Sale of new cars hit by sharp fall

Jun 4 2009

New car sales fell sharply last month, with the motor industry saying that it would take time for the Government's "cash for bangers" scrappage scheme to take effect.

A total of 134,858 new vehicles were registered in May 2009 - 24.8% down on the May 2008 total, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said.

This was the 12th successive month that sales had dropped and registrations for the first five months of this year were down 27.9% compared with January-May 2008.