Car dealerships in the UK sold an average of 26 new cars each last month, according to new data published by independent research consultancy Autointel.

The group’s figures showed that the top 50 performing dealer groups accounted for more than a third (37.2 per cent) of all new registrations in May, up from 36.4 per cent the previous month.

A total of 153,095 new cars were sold in May, an increase of a 13.5 per cent from the same month last year.

According to Autointel, Pendragon, Britain’s largest car dealership group, dominated the sector with 6,545 sales, followed by Inchcape (4,661) and Arnold Clark (4,111).

However, the best performance for the month in terms of sales per site was achieved by Wayside Group with its dealerships recording an average of 55.3 sales, followed by Mercedes Benz Retail with 41.2 sales per dealer.

In comparison, Pendragon sites sold an average of 28.5 cars, Inchcape dealers recorded 38.8 sales and Arnold Clark offloaded an average of 30.5 cars per site.

Groups who showed a monthly improvement in sales in May included Sytner, Helston Garages, Mercedes-Benz Retail, Vindis, Ridgeway, Co-Operative Motor Group, Vospers, Hendy and RRG.

Last month, UK dealerships gained access to a new web-based car finance calculator, developed by Yorkshire-based finance company Bridford Financial Solutions and website cardealerfinance.co.uk.

The instant calculator, which can be easily added to car dealer websites, helps speed up transactions and allows dealerships to provide clients with a greater level of customer service.