Official figures show that there was another big jump in new car sales in May. The data also show that almost as many new cars have been sold so far this year as in the whole of 2009.
The Central Statistics Office said 8,893 new cars were registered in May, up 83.7% from the 4,840 recorded in the same month last year.
The CSO today said just over 53,000 new cars had been sold in the first five months of this year, up 41% on the same period last year. This compares with 54,400 for the whole of last year. The figures are still, however, well behind the levels of 2008.
Of the new cars recorded in May, 28.5% were petrol and 67.7% diesel. Ford led the way with 1,389 cars, followed by Volkswagen (1,153), Renault (990) and Toyota (828).
The CSO numbers are roughly in line with those from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, which said last month that the scrappage scheme introduced in the Budget had helped kickstart demand for new cars. Its figures also showed a 41% increase in new car sales so far this year.
