Abstract
The report examines various aspects of the numbers of new cars registered in Britain, mainly to provide background information for studies of car ownership. The median life of cars has reduced from 14 years for cars made in the early 1950's to about 11 years; larger cars have shorter lives than smaller ones. In the long term, numbers of new cars may increase to 2-2.1/2 million per year if average lives remain as at present. Short-term variations in numbers of new cars can be related to levels of real consumers' expenditure. Cars tend to move during their lives from urban to rural regions. Cars in the south of England last longer than those in the north and in Scotland perhaps due to levels of salt usage. (Author/publisher)