Mazda enjoyed its best ever September with sales of 9,400 cars and a passenger car market share of 2.3%. It also saw the second best single monthly sales. The record month was March this year when Mazda sold more than 10,000 vehicles.

The strong September sales result, Mazda says, puts it on track to meet its objective of exceeding 50,000 units this year - another all-time first for Mazda in the UK.

“This would be an incredible achievement by our dealers and would really signal the strength of the Mazda brand. Last year we sold 46,801 units, so it would be a very significant increase despite a depressed market,” said Mazda Motor UK sales director Jeremy Thomson.

Strong performances by revised Mazda6 and new Mazda MX-5 boosted the month. Sales of MX-5 were 1,624, a 688% increase over September 2005.