Number of cars on the road declines for first time since Second World War

Number of cars on the road declines for first time since Second World War

There were just over 31 million cars registered on the UK's roads at the end of 2009, a fall of 0.7 per cent over the figure for 12 months earlier. This drop may seem like a tiny figure, but it represents a significant landmark it is the first time since the Second World War that the number of cars registered for use in the UK has fallen year on year. Even more startlingly, 2009 was the first year in which the number had dropped in peacetime since the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) the body which compiles the statistics first did so, way back in 1904.

The most obvious contributing factor, according to SMMT Chief Executive Paul Everitt, was the economic recession.He acknowledged that the UK Government's vehicle scrappage scheme which offered incentives for drivers of cars and vans aged 10 years old and over had made a significant contribution to persuading people to let go of their older, less environmentally sound, vehicles. But he also said that wider powers given to local councils to dispose of unlicensed vehicles had also played a part in cutting the overall figure.

The vehicles which remained in use were, however, much more technologically advanced, and more environmentally friendly the amount of CO2 emitted by the average car had dropped by 1.7 per cent between 2008 and 2009, the SMMT said. Its chief executive, Paul Everitt, credited car manufacturers for widening the appeal of their energy efficient models, and for marketing them and the benefits of owning and driving them more effectively to potential buyers.

Since 2006, buyers have been snapping up more cars whose CO2 emissions of less than 120 grammes per kilometre put them in the lowest bands for liability for vehicle excise duty more commonly known as road tax. In just three years, the number of cars sold which fall into this category has reached more than 935,000 a steep increase of more than 90 per cent. British buyers might be following new trends when it comes to making the initial choice of car, but there's one facet of their choice in which they are steadfastly conservative, and that's in their choice of car colour. Silver has hung on to its place at the top of the colour charts, since deposing blue in 2009. The latter, along with black, still remains the second and third most popular choices, but red cars continue to fall from favour, and now lag in fourth place.

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