Ford of Britain pre-registered more vehicles than any other car company in the UK during 2004, giving the blue oval’s sales an £11.4m boost in gross revenue.

In second spot was Peugeot with 808 pre-registrations worth almost £7.3m, while Renault’s 773 pre-registrations worth £4m put it in third place. Ford’s direct rival, Vauxhall, recorded the fourth highest number of pre-registrations, at 408, which equated to almost £4.2m in gross revenue.

A Ford spokesman says its pre-registrations equated to just 0.3% of its 2004 sales, adding that pre-registered vehicles include all vehicles sold within three months of registration, including some company cars and cars damaged in transit.