Sales of new cars in the UK, which has been haemorrhaging for the past 15 months, showed a glimpse of recovery riding on the government incentive-backed scheme of trading old cars for new.

British auto industry body, Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said yesterday that new car registration rose 2.4 per cent in July to 157,149 units-the first growth seen since April 2008.

Although the market is still down almost 550,000 units over the past 12 months, growth in July was primarily due to the positive impact of the scrappage incentive scheme introduced by the government in May 2009, said SMMT.

''The impact of the scrappage scheme is clear and we are encouraged by the positive impact it has had, increasing new car registrations for the first time since April 2008,'' said Paul Everitt, SMMT chief executive.

''Industry still faces a long road to recovery and we urge government to take action to sustain economic recovery through easing access to finance and credit and delivering the loan guarantees set out by the Automotive Assistance Programme,'' he added.

July's modest 2.4-per cent growth took the market to 157,149 units – 10.4 per cent above SMMT's forecast for the month of 142,300 units, but was still 10.1 per cent below the average for July of 174,879 units between 1999 and 2008.