Britain's motorists are set to buy record numbers of cars for a third year, new figures indicated yesterday.

Bucking the trend elsewhere in Europe, UK car sales are expected to peak this year at just over 2.56m, despite a 1.5% overall slip last month. The private market rose 2.1% in November.

Chris Macgowan, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders' chief executive, said the industry had forecast a 6% dip on last year's record sales of 2,563,631 but was now on course to beat that figure.

Sales, which are again forecast to fall over the next two years because of a likely rise in interest rates, need to be 141,000 this month, he said, to reach that record - only 2,000 above 2002's level but 165,000 above initial forecasts.

Sales last month were 169,000, with price rises from some producers offset by discounts from others. Ford, the market leader, fell below 13% and close rival Vauxhall below 12%, but Renault saw its share rise to just under 10%.

MG Rover, beset by allegations of lucrative salary and pension deals for its founder owners, saw sales drop 32% to 4,300, giving it a market share of only 2.5%, compared with the 4% deemed necessary to ensure viability.

Company spokesmen, pointing out that sales had fallen 29% in January and 17% in April, insisted that comparisons between individual months were "spurious" and the drop was conditioned by a variety of factors. Year-to-date sales are, at 90,000, close to last year's level.

Nissan, however, saw a climb of 42% in the month and 5% in the year as the government announced a £3.3m grant towards a £95m investment by the Japanese group at its Sunderland plant (above).

The grant, said to safeguard more than 250 jobs, will help build a new Micra cabriolet, the first of its kind for Nissan in Europe. Output of the new car, which is due to go on sale in 2005, has been set at 20,000 units a year.