New car sales for the first nine months of the year were 12.2% ahead of the same period last year, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry.
It said 165,247 new cars were sold in the period, while there were 7,004 sales in the month of September, an increase of 15% on the same month last year.
SIMI chief executive Cyril McHugh again called for a reduction in Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) in the Budget, arguing that stronger than expected car sales would be worth an extra €120m in VRT to the Exchequer.
