The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show another big drop in the number of car sales in May, although the pace of decline slowed a little from the previous month.
The CSO says that 4,480 new private cars were licensed in May 2009, down 60.2% compared with the same time last year. Today's figure compares with a slowdown of over 68% in April.
Retail sales weak despite slight pick-up
The number of new goods vehicles licensed last month slowed by 67.9% to 1,034 from 3,219. This again was a slight improvement on the drop of 75.5% in April.
The total number of all new vehicles licensed during May 2009 was 6,864. This compares with 17,285 the same time last year and represents a fall of 60.3%.
The CSO notes that 45.8% of new cars licensed last month were petrol, while 50.9% were diesel.
