Toyota preregistered more cars in February than any manufacturer, overtaking Ford at the top spot.

The Japanese firm pre-registered 28 cars, with a value of £349,619. In second place was Vauxhall with 21 (£239,164), Hyundai eight (£69,150), Renault seven (£54,852), Ford four (£32,381), Citroen, Nissan and Peugeot two each (£16,740, £25,210, £25,957) and Skoda one (£11,500).

There were 75 cars pre-registered representing a gross revenue of £824,574.

A Toyota spokesman said all the pre-registered vehicles were new RAV4s. "We pre-registered them as demonstrators and then, such was the demand, we had to sell them to customers earlier than planned," he said.

In January Ford pre-registered 200 vehicles.

The Supply of New Cars Order 2000 requires motor manufacturers to publish the number of pre-registered cars supplied and the gross income suppliers receive from their sale.