The number of people planning to buy a new set of wheels over the coming six months has increased, a new report claims.

Sainsbury's Bank's Car Buying Index shows that 7.85 million Brits say that they will splash out on a new motor between September 2007 and February - an increase of 200,000 people on the preceding six months.

These people say that they will spend a total of £58.6 billion on their new cars over the next six months, a figure that is £5.4 billion greater than the equivalent for the period between March 2007 and August 2007.

"It's interesting to see that the significant drop in the numbers looking to purchase cars witnessed back in March appears to have been a short-term dip, with our recent findings revealing an increase in people looking to purchase a car over the next half-year. The amount people are willing to spend on their car purchase is also up by an average of £500 on six months ago," Steven Baillie, head of loans at Sainsbury's Bank, said.

"Although there would appear to have been some recovery in consumer confidence, the most recent index still represents a decrease of over £10 billion in total spend on new cars compared with the same period a year ago."

The report showed that around 31 per cent of Brits plan to fund at least of their purchase through taking out a loan.

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