The number of new cars licensed in October 2001 fell by 29.4% from October 2000 - down from 9,301 to 6,563 - according to figures from the Central Statistics Office today.
In the first 10 months of 2001, there were 153,615 new private cars licensed. This was a decrease of 28.5% on the corresponding period the previous year, but only a decrease of 3.4% on the period from January to October 1999.
First licensing of second-hand private cars decreased by 26% on the same month last year and decreased by 35% in the year to date, the CSO added.
New goods vehicles licensed increased by 3.8% in October 2001, when compared with the same month in 2000. They were down 8% in the first ten months of 2001 by comparison with the same period in 2000.
The most popular new cars in October were Volkswagen with 795 units sold during the month. Renault was the second most popular (682), with Ford (610), Fiat (534), Nissan (520) and Toyota (519) next.
