Fleet registrations dropped to just 43.5% of new cars in August as the scrappage scheme pushed retail buyers towards showrooms. The traditional dead month before the 1 September new registration plate saw retail registrations 45.4% up on August 2008 at 37,859 while fleet was 21.6% down at 29,147. The net result was a market 6.0% up, though it’s still 21.5% behind 2008 over the first eight months of the year.

So far this year, fleet is still 27.6% down, meaning August was a better month than the average over the first eight.

As usual, Ford topped the manufacturer chart from Vauxhall with VW in third, though Audi‘s fourth place was five spots ahead of BMW, the prestige brand it is normally nip-and-tuck with every month.

Ford’s Focus beat its Fiesta little brother in the model table, with VW’s Golf breaking into the top three.

At the other end of the chart, troubled Saab managed just seven fleet registrations in August, compared with 297 in August 2008.

Top 10 manufacturers – August 2009
Manufacturer August 2009 August 2008 % change
1. Ford 7380 6548 12.7
2. Vauxhall 4075 7642 -46.7
3. VW 2957 3859 -23.4
4. Audi 2211 2477 -10.7
5. Peugeot 1759 1738 1.2
6. Citroen 1594 1723 -17.1
7. Nissan 1207 1087 11.0
8. Toyota 1155 1063 8.7
9. BMW 1007 1960 -48.6
10. Mercedes 675 454 48.7
Top ten models – August 2009
Model August 2009 August 2008 % change
1. Ford Focus 3615 2388 51.4
2. Ford Fiesta 1846 1022 80.6
3. VW Golf 1097 1758 -37.6
4. Vauxhall Corsa 1092 2523 -56.7
5. Vauxhall Insignia 1057 0 n/a
6. Vauxhall Astra 910 2158 -57.8
7. Peugeot 207 841 676 24.4
8. Ford Mondeo 709 1224 -42.1
9. Audi A3 707 527 34.2