New car registrations in Scotland in March fell year-on-year by 22.82% to a total of 31,428 units

The March 2008 total was 40,720 new cars.

Douglas Robertson, chief executive of the Scottish Motor Traders Association, said: “This is certainly another disappointment for the retail motor trade in Scotland and to our mind fully justifies our call for the immediate introduction of a scrappage scheme similar to those already introduced in most of Western Europe.

"The current UK government seems to have great difficulty in committing itself making such a decision.”

He added “A scrappage scheme implemented along the same lines as that in Germany would benefit us all by removing less environmentally friendly cars from our streets and at the same producing a positive inflow of cash to the government through VAT and road tax.

"Fortunately for the trade used cars are selling well but a lack of new car sales will inevitably lead to a shortage of used cars and a consequent continuance in the sales value of them – not good news for the consumer. ”