New research by The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, into the 31 million cars currently registered on UK roads (the Motorparc), has shown that Greater London and the North West saw a fall in the number of registered cars over the last five years.

The study also highlighted that, proportionally, Plymouth has the fewest low-carbon cars, while Leeds is the pinkest town in the UK.
To the end of last year, the total number of cars on UK roads increased to 31,258,197, up by 0.7% on 2009.

Scotland and the south west of England were the biggest growth areas, each showing an increase of over 4% since 2005. Over the same period Greater London and the north West have seen a declining parc.

Lowering CO2 emissions has been a particular focus for vehicle manufacturers and this is reflected in the parc.

In the last five years, average CO2 emissions of new cars have dropped by 15% as vehicle manufacturers introduce increasingly efficient engines and increase the availability of alternative technologies.

The parc data shows that the uptake of low emitting cars varies considerably across the country. Chesterfield tops the charts with 29% of cars on the road emitting less than 140g/km CO2 while Plymouth comes out worst with just 19% achieving the same level of output.

Silver is the most popular colour of car in the total parc and has held the top spot since 2008 when it replaced blue as the nation’s favourite.

In 2010, the number of white cars increased dramatically, up 7%, following years of decline, reflecting a huge increase in demand for the colour among new car buyers.

White cars are particularly popular along the south coast, but motorists in Leeds have a soft spot for pink with more than 100 vehicles registered there in the last five years, giving the city the highest proportion of pink cars in the country.

SMMT’s data service can analyse historical records of more than 200 million vehicles, calling on over 80 data fields, each capable of reporting by region, town or even postcode.

This record of the past, combined with current records covering 31 million cars and 4.5 million commercial vehicles on the road, plus the average 2.5 million new cars registered each year, makes the service one of the richest data sources in the industry.