SKODA Auto sales continue to rise with a total of 2,614 sales throughout July. The year to date total of 23,365 new car sales means the brand maintains a 1.5 per cent market share.

This represents a 10 per cent improvement over the previous year against a total market rise of only seven per cent.

The upward trend is led by the award-winning Fabia 1.4 MPI, accounting for almost 20 per cent of total sales for the month. Diesel fans continue to choose the Octavia diesel in this ever-increasing sector of the market, with Octavia diesel achieving a massive 56.3 per cent increase over July 2001. Octavia diesel prices start from £10,855 on the road.

The best-selling Fabia accounted for 1,442 sales of the total sales for the month and over half of total sales for the year at 13,786.

The Octavia continues to show its strength with a July sales result of 1,142 and a total of 9,310 year to date. The recently launched Skoda Superb, now available at Skoda retailers, has already exceeded 250 vehicle sales in the UK.

The success of Skoda thus far has been expedited by the great interest from the business market with more than 600 Octavia taxis sold, which gives testament to the Octavia's durability.

In addition, police forces up and down the country are in hot pursuit of the sporty Skoda Octavia VRS, with a third of all Octavia sales going to VRS.