NEW car sales in Scotland outstripped the national average in February as the UK new car market racked up a record-breaking 36th consecutive month of growth.

A total of 5,775 new cars were registered in Scotland in February, an increase of more than 15 per cent year-on-year. It comes after a slight dip of just over one per cent year-on-year for Scotland in January.

The UK as a whole experienced an increase of 12 per cent year-on-year in January, with 76,958 new vehicles registered.

Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the Scottish Motors Trade Association (SMTA) said: "We are delighted with this increase in February after the slight fall in figures for last month. February is traditionally a low volume month and we are pleased at the level of consumer confidence for February and look forward to seeing the increase continue in March. However, it is our belief that we will experience a levelling out over the rest of 2015."

The Vauxhall Corsa was the most popular new car in Scotland for the first two months of 2015, followed by the Ford Fiesta, Fiat 500, Volkswagon Polo and the Ford Focus.

Also among the top ten sellers was the Audi A3 in sixth place, which retails from £18,575, and the Mini in tenth place with sales tripling to 343 in the first two months of 2015 compared to 114 during the same period last year.

Romanian car manufacturer, Dacia, is also in demand with 383 new Dacia Sandero cars rolling off forecourts in Scotland during January and February - up from 247 last year.

It comes against a backdrop of the longest sustained period of growth in the UK new car market ever recorded.

February was the 36th month of growth in a row, beating the previous record of 26 months set in the late 1980s.

The number of new cars registered has risen every month since March 2012 in a sign of the UK's economic recovery. Consumer demand is also being driven by the lure of new products coming onto the market and attractive finance deals.

In what is traditionally one of the quietest months of the year ahead of a number plate change in March, the market grew 12 per cent year-on-year with 76,958 new cars registered, achieving a year-to-date rise of 8.3 per cent.

The increase was driven by fleet buyers, with registrations up nearly 20 per cent in February compared to a 3.4 per cent increase in the private market.

Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said: "Three years of continuous growth in the new car market is remarkable and reflects the strong upturn in the confidence of UK car buyers since the recession.

"Registrations of fleet and business cars have outpaced the private market in February, reflecting the increased business confidence across the UK. With most fleet car buyers on a three-year replacement cycle, many of those cars purchased at the beginning of the current growth period are now due for replacement. Over the course of 2015, however, we are expecting a more stable market to emerge given there has already been an extended period of consistent growth."

Chris Sutton, managing director of motor finance provide, Black Horse, added: "Car sales in 2015 continue at a good pace with businesses taking on new fleets and upgrading company cars demonstrating healthy business confidence however we will have to monitor more closely how consumer demand for new cars continues this year as we have recently seen the rate of growth slow down somewhat. Overall though we are hopeful that the March data will show a strong demand for new cars by both consumers and businesses with the new March registration plate.