Ananova:

New car registrations in Britain fell 18.6% in the year to August, signalling the weakest market since 1966.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said there were just 63,225 cars registered last month.

"The August market was the lowest since 1966 and accounted for a quarter of the fall in volumes over the year-to-date," the SMMT said.

"The last three months account for 89% of the drop."

Vauxhall, which owns the 15% of the UK market, saw sales fall 19.72% last month compared to the previous August, while second-biggest seller Ford dropped by just 5%.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW took huge hits of 35% and 39% respectively, while rival Audi increased its market share to almost 6% with an increase in sales of 15%.

August is traditionally a quiet month as consumers wait for a change in number plates in September before buying new cars.

Nevertheless, the fall is also indicative of a strain on consumer finances that caused the sharpest fall in retail sales in a quarter of a century last month.

"Sharply deteriorating car sales is a further clear sign that consumers are increasingly cutting back on their spending," said Howard Archer, an economist at Global Insight.

With cheap credit becoming hard to find, the SMMT said the outlook for the car market could remain difficult.

It predicted new registration volumes would fall by a further 10% in the final four months of the year.