New car sales accelerated ahead last month and remain on course to reach their highest annual level for 10 years.

A total of 173,327 new vehicles were registered in November - an 8% rise on November last year, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) have said.

This took the figure for the first 11 months of this year to 2,310,237 - a 9.4% increase on the total for January-November 2013.

This was the 33rd month in succession that new sales have risen and the SMMT predicts that, with just the December sales to come, the year-end total for 2014 will be around 2.46 million, making it the best year since 2004.

Commenting on the sales data, SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "Six months after the record was broken for consecutive monthly growth in new car registrations, the market continues to march on.

"Today's figures are an indication of the continuing economic confidence that is driving the new car market, with business, fleet and private registrations all showing strong rises in the month. We expect a more stable market in 2015."

Crucially, the proportion of electric cars and other alternatively fuelled vehicles among the new registrations grew from 1.5% in November last year to 2.8% in November this year.

Of all new registrations, these were the best-selling models in November 2014:

1. Ford Fiesta
2. Volkswagen Golf
3. Vauxhall Corsa
4. Ford Focus
5. Volkswagen Polo
6. Nissan Qashqai
7. Vauxhall Astra
8. Nissan Juke
9. Audi A3
10. Mercedes-Benz C Class