New figures show that sales of new cars in Scotland continue to rise, but are still lagging behind the rest of the UK.

The latest round of figures show that 6,687 new cars were registered in Scotland in August 2015, a rise of 3.67 per cent - or 237 additional vehicles - on August 2014.

Across the UK, new car registrations rose for the 42nd month in a row as low-cost financial deals helped drive recent sales.

Sandy Burgess, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Trade Association (SMTA), said: “These results maintains Scotland’s year on year growth at 1.12% which, whilst being significantly behind the rest of the UK which recorded an outstanding 7.27% for the month, it is a testimony to our dealers who have been very active in creating strong incentives to entice buyers into their showrooms.

“As the first of the 65 plate cars are hitting the roads across the country there is a renewed vibrancy in dealer promotions to ensure that the Scottish motoring consumer is able to access these remarkable new products and deals.

“I would expect this will create the platform for a strong September performance and month end result.”