VIRGIN Cars claims to have saved car buyers more than £6.5 million in its 10 months of operating in the UK with total sales of 3,800 cars worth more than £60 million.

In January Virgin broke the £1 million in a day barrier for the first time, and recorded a month's total of 512 car sales - all non-fleet, but principally high demand and aspirational models. Ford Mondeo is top of the Virgin Cars' sales chart, closely followed by Audi TT, Ford Focus, BMW 3-series, Saab 9-3 and BMW 5-series.

The company says it has already recovered its start-up costs and will be in profit by September this year. Ian Lancaster, chief executive officer for Virgin Cars, said: 'Over the past few months we have seen our business expand considerably. Unlike some of our competitors we have not had to rely on a high advertising budget to increase our sales.

'The power of the Virgin brand is a highly influential factor in attracting business. Furthermore, we are constantly reviewing consumer demands, which has enabled us to improve our service.'

A motorcycle sales arm, Virgin Bikes, will be launched in May. A spokesman for Virgin would not be drawn on whether a fleet sales initiative is also in the offing but said: 'We continue to set ourselves achievable challenges and we have a number of exciting business developments taking place over the next few months.'