Ford chairman and managing director Mark Ovenden believes the buoyant UK new car market has not yet peaked.

Payment protection insurance (PPI) payouts and the low price of cars have helped to grow the market, Ovenden said at Frankfurt Motor Show today, but there is also a growing feeling of confidence throughout the country.

"We have had five or six years of record low interest rates, so people now have some equity in their houses and have started to bring their mortgages down, which has contributed to the strength of the UK market," he said.

"The product is strong, interest rates are low and there are some attractive PCP deals, so I think there is a bit more upside to come yet. I don't see the total industry volume going beyond 2.2 or 2.3 million, but I have no reason to think it should go down, either."

Ford has 13.6% of retail market share.

August was the 18th month of consecutive rises in the UK's new car market as registrations ended 10.9% ahead year-on-year.

The 65,937 cars registered in the final month of the 13-plate has driven up the year-to-date total to 1,391,788 units.

Private registrations saw the biggest gain, up 14.7% to 31,608 cars, but the fleet and business sectors also experienced improvement, up 7.4% to 32,386 units and 13.4% to 1,943 units respectively.