British car sales surge 31.6 pc in October

Sales of new cars in Britain soared by 31.6 percent in October as a result of the state- backed old-for-new scheme, industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders announced Thursday. New car sales rose 31.6 percent last month to 168 ,942 vehicles, compared with the same month of 2008 , the SMMT said in a statement. That was the fourth monthly increase in a row. "October has seen this year's biggest monthly increase in registrations with the successful scrappage scheme accounting for over 20 percent of them," said SMMT Chief Executive Paul Everitt in the release. "We have seen additional demand created by the extension of the scheme and customers wanting to avoid the VAT increase planned for January.