The number of new private cars licensed in February fell by 8.3% from a year earlier, according to figures published by the Central Statistics Office today.
The results are a stark contrast to January, when the number of new cars licensed showed an annual jump of 12.6%.
That news came on the back of a bumper year for car sales in 2007 - the best year for the market since 2000.
There were 24,290 new cars registered in February, compared to 26,495 in the corresponding month last year.
However, the overall number of cars licensed is still higher than the first two months of 2007. There have been 57,251 private cars licensed so far in 2008, which translates to an increase of 2.6%.
Toyota is the most popular manufacturer so far, with the Japanese company selling 3,342 cars. Volkswagen is next most popular, followed by Ford, Nissan and Opel.
The CSO figures also show a sharp dip in the amount of new goods vehicles being licensed. There were 5,181 such vehicles licensed by the end of last month, a 7.1% fall on the same time last year.
