UK car registrations rise for ninth straight month; focus turns to September sales

Sept 4 (Reuters) - Britain's new car sales rose nearly 14% from a year ago in August, marking the ninth consecutive month of growth, industry data showed on Friday, with attention now turning to September, when new registrations are expected to drive sales higher.

The data comes as Britain sets out a range of options that could ease the pressure on car manufacturers to switch new sales to zero-emission vehicles, launching a review of existing targets that gradually phase out new petrol and diesel cars.

"August is a low-volume month, so September will be the acid test. The industry is doing everything it can to help drivers switch, but mandate targets must be grounded in the reality of demand," Mike Hawes, chief executive of Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, said.

Britain updates the registration identifier on vehicle number plates twice a year, in March and September, and many consumers delay purchases to obtain a newly registered vehicle carrying the latest identifier, which decides the vehicle's age.

Sales of new cars rose 13.7% to 94,236 vehicles in August, usually a quiet month of the year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, driven by battery electric vehicle registrations rising 27.7% year on year.

Data from New AutoMotive showed on Thursday that UK registrations of BEVs rose to about 30% of all cars in August.

SMMT and New AutoMotive use different data sources and calculation methods.

(Reporting by Nithyashree R B and Ankita Bora in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed and Mrigank Dhaniwala)