New figures show that the number of new cars licensed in 2008 fell by 19% compared to figures for 2007. The Central Statistics Office says that during the year a total of 146,470 new cars were licensed.
The number of new goods vehicles licensed last year slumped by 47.5% to 426 compared to 811 in 2007. However, the number of second-hand cars licensed rose by 2.3% last year from 2007 to a total of 60,091.
January 2008 had been a record month for car sales with figures up over 12% on the same month in 2007. July also saw a 6% increase due to new VRT and road tax rules. However, most of the other months saw a sales decline.
The CSO figures also reveal that the number of new cars licensed in December tumbled by 48.8% with just 667 new private cars licensed last month. This compares to a total of 1,304 in December of 2007. New car sales had slumped almost 60% in November.
Of the 667 new cars licensed last year 61% were petrol while 38% were diesel. The most popular new car sold last month was Opel, followed by Ford, Volkswagen, Toyota and Nissan.
