Fuel efficient vehicles are driving sales of new cars.
This year has seen the new car market gathering significant pace, with buyers increasingly opting for a brand-new motor rather than going down the route of buying second-hand.
Such movement indicates road users are becoming more willing to put their hand in their pocket so they can drive away in a vehicle that nobody else has owned previously.
But why are people starting to go down this path now? One explanation is the rise in popularity of the fuel efficient car.
Manufacturers are placing a greater emphasis on this aspect of motoring – and this is being made clear through the latest cars making their way onto the market with a high focus on fuel efficiency. The benefits of owning such a car is obvious and it is likely that this will remain a major buying incentive for some time to come.
With new cars being much more fuel-efficient than older vehicles, it is easy to see why motorists are increasingly willing to overlook used cars and instead buy new.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has highlighted the desire among drivers to switch to more fuel efficient cars as one of the main reasons behind significant climbs in new car sales of late, Motoring.com reports.
Indeed, figures released by the SMMT showed that transactions of this type jumped by 13.4 per cent in June this year to stand at 214,957 for the month. This represented a rise on the 189,514 recorded in June 2012 and was the 16th month in a row that total car sales had increased.
And according to the SMMT, the appeal of cars that do not cost very much to run is a leading contributory factor to this movement. Not only do these models save on petrol, but they also result in lower tax and congestion charge costs.
In addition, average new car carbon dioxide emissions were cut by 3.7 per cent in the first six months of this year compared to the same spell in 2012 – and this was down to drivers changing to fuel efficient cars.
What's more, the SMMT has revealed that registrations of alternatively-fuelled vehicles increased by 17 per cent in July to reach 2,432. This meant that registrations of this type for the period between January to July climbed to 17,859 in total.
With this movement in mind, the SMMT revealed it has raised its forecast for new car registrations for the year. The group now predicts that sales will hit 2.216 million units over the course of the 12 months, which is 8.4 per cent higher than the figure for last year.
Mike Baunton, interim chief executive at the SMMT, commented: "Strong business and consumer confidence in July saw the new car market continue to rise, posting double-digit growth in the month.
"Now we have evidence of consistent growth, we have raised our forecast for 2013 new car registrations to 2.216 million units, an increase of over eight per cent on last year."
It seems the trend for buying new is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, with carmakers making sure their latest models offer the best by way of fuel efficiency.
As drivers keep an eye on the amount of money they are likely to spend on motoring once they have purchased a vehicle, it can be expected that more and more people will look to buy a model that will prove more cost-efficient in the long run.