MORE BRITISH consumers are buying cars, making the UK one of the very few big European car markets to grow this year.

Registrations of new cars reached 189,514 units in June, 3.5 per cent higher than a year ago – the fourth consecutive month in which they grew, the UK’s Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said yesterday.

With the euro zone crisis unsettling consumers in continental Europe, car sales fell last month in France, Italy, Spain and most other west European countries except for Germany, where they rose by 3 per cent year-on-year.

In Britain, by contrast, consumers went to dealerships to buy new vehicles last month in spite of wet weather that depressed sales at most high street retailers.

Private buyers drove most of the market’s sales growth in June, registering 10 per cent more cars than a year ago.

However, car-makers and industry analysts warned against reading too much optimism into the seemingly buoyant figures.

Much of the present demand for cars, they said, was being driven by the deep discounts buyers could secure as manufacturers slashed prices to move their vehicles off forecourts.