Average retail prices for new cars in the UK rose by 4.7% over last year, according to eurocarprice.com/PwC. The movement in retail prices in the UK was 0.1% stronger than across Europe as a whole, where the average new car price rose by an average of 4.6% in the year to December.

The latest eurocarprice.com European New Car Price Index, published in association with PricewaterhouseCoopers, shows that new car retail prices in the UK in December were 1% lower than the average price of a new car in the euro currency zone.

Average pre-tax prices for vehicles in euro currency countries rose by 3.9% last year. Pre-tax car prices in the whole of Western Europe (euro and non-euro currency markets) rose 1.7% in the year to December, which compared to a rise of 1.0% in the year to November.