Official figures show that new car sales resumed their downward trend in August following a slight pick-up in July which was sparked by changes in the tax system.
The Central Statistics Office said 6,822 new cars were licensed in August, down almost 32% on the same month last year. For the first eight months of the year, new car figures are showing a drop of 16.4% to 137,566.
The July figure for new cars had shown a 3% rise, the first since January.
The CSO also gave figures for the new cars which were rated for CO2 emissions. Just over 9% were in Band A, the lowest category, while almost half were in Band B and 24% in Band C. 7% were in the remaining higher-emission categories.
