New car registrations in Britain rose 5.2 percent in January compared with a year ago, the biggest rise in more than a year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said on Tuesday.

SMMT said it was also the first increase in three months and brought total new car registrations to 165,603 units in the month.

However, it said the strong annual gain was flattered by weak sales in January 2006.

Tuesday’s data showed private car registrations rose 1.2 percent year-on-year, the first increase since last March and the strongest rise since March 2004.

Fleet car registrations were 8.8 percent up on the year.

“New car registrations in January showed an encouraging start to 2007,” said SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan.

(this article was taken from reuters.co.uk)

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