Official figures show that the number of new cars licensed in September was almost half the figure for the same month last year.
The Central Statistics Office said 2,272 new cars were licensed in the month, a drop of 47.9%. Though the drop is steep, it is not as big as the 73% and 64.5% falls recorded in July and August respectively.
For the first nine months of the year, the new car figure was 51,414, a drop of 63.8% from the 141,930 recorded in the same period last year.
The CSO figures show that almost 60% of the new cars licensed last month were diesel, with just under 39% petrol. Ford led the way with 292, followed by Toyota (257) and Volkswagen (256).
