The Society of the Irish Motor Industry has called for measures in the budget to halt the decline in the new car market over the past three years.
In its pre-budget submission, it calls for the reversal of last year's change which moved the highest rate VRT band from 2.0 litres to 1.9 litres.
SIMI says this measure cost the industry €11.5m and would affect Government revenue from VRT.
Chief executive Cyril McHugh has also called for a cut of 2.5 percentage points in the rate of VRT and the reintroduction of a scrappage scheme.
SIMI figures for September show new car sales of 5,954, down nearly 7% on the same month last year. The figure for the first eight months of 2003 was 137,809, down 6.4%.
