Last month saw fleet registrations rise 5.4% compared to July 2013, reaching a total of 88,256 from 83,763 units the year before. Meanwhile in line with recent trends the sub-25 business sector saw an even-stronger rise, with registrations up 14.3% from 6,926 in July 2013 to 7,913 units.

Overall the new car market saw 172,907 new cars registered in July, a rise of 6.6%.

The year-to-date picture is even stronger, with fleet registrations up 8.0% for the first seven months of the year to 690,369 units from 639,306 for the same period in 2013. The business sector saw a 20.6% from 57,581 units for the first seven months of 2013 to 69,425 units. Overall the new car market is up 10.1% year to date to 1,460,172 units, with the SMMT citing economic confidence and attractive finance as key reasons.

In response, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘July saw the new car market extend its record period of growth to a 29th month, as confident consumers took advantage of an array of new products and attractive finance deals on the latest fuel-efficient new cars.

‘The continued positivity has led to an uplift in the SMMT full-year forecast to 2.45 million passenger car registrations, a rise of 8.1%. However, the more moderate growth of the last three months shows that overall demand is beginning to stabilise.’