Northern Ireland has bucked the downward trend of new car registrations in the UK with a 6.74% increase on last year.

Scotland, England and Wales were down 17.04%, 10.11% and 10.01% respectively.

The best selling car in Northern Ireland last month was the Mitsubishi Colt compared to the Ford Focus in England and Scotland and the Ford Fiesta in Wales.

Here are tables of the latest regional figures for new car registrations from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

Britain Feb-05 Feb-06 % change YTD 2005 YTD 2006 % change
England 63,476 62,791 -1.08 215,494 193,710 -10.11
Northern Ireland 5,607 5,853 4.39 12,457 13,296 6.74
Scotland 5,424 4,837 -10.82 20,185 16,746 -17.04
Wales 2,120 2,070 -2.36 8,481 7,632 -10.01
Grand total 76,627 75,551 -1.40 256,617 231,384 -9.83

*Note: Channel Islands & Isle of Man new car registrations are not included in this table