CONSUMERS are expected to spend more than £63bn on buying new and used cars over the next six months, a new survey says.

The total is £9bn more than consumers said they intended to spend on vehicles in the six months ending February 2006, the survey by Sainsbury's Bank found.

By the end of the summer, 6% of people plan to buy a new car and 11% a second-hand vehicle.

Of those planning to buy a car, 29% intend to spend more than £10,000 and 8.3% more than £21,000.

People living in south- west England plan to buy the most vehicles, with 22% intending to snap up a new car or a used one.

In contrast, just 10% of people living in north-east England plan to buy a car over the next few months.

A bank spokesman said for the first two months of this year, sales of brand new cars were down on the same period last year. This survey meant good news for the car industry.