A total of 388,540 new cars and 6,959 new LCVs were registered through the scrappage incentive scheme (SIS) by the end of April.

It  means scrappage accounted for 8% of all new car and 2.1% of LCV registrations in April.

Average CO2 emissions of a car bought through the scheme were 132.9g/km, more than 27% below the scrapped car’s figure and 9.5% below the overall new car market average.

“The scrappage scheme ended in March and SMMT’s latest figures show that the majority of the 400,000 scrappage-funded vehicles have now been registered,” said SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.

“The scheme helped support our economy and played a vital role in providing a much-needed boost to the UK automotive industry.

"Our latest registration forecasts suggest the 2010 market will perform better than expected, but will appear subdued compared to the peaks achieved during the scrappage scheme.”

The scrappage scheme accounted for just 8% of all new car registrations in April, its lowest share since the scheme began.

Since May 2009 the scheme has accounted for 18.1% of total new car sales and in the second half of 2009 was regularly accounting for more than a fifth of total market volumes.

Similarly the impact of the scheme has diminished in the LCV market, accounting for 2.1% of April volumes, compared with 3.7% over the May to April period.

The mini segment took a 12.9% share of total scrappage registrations, more than three times the volume it took within the overall May to April market, totalling 3.9%.

Supermini models accounted for 58.4% of all cars registered through the scheme during May 2009 to April 2010, compared with a 38.1% share taken within the overall market over the same period.

Petrol cars accounted for 82.6% of cars bought under scrappaeg over the May 2009 to April 2010 period, compared with 58.0% in the overall market.