Official figures show that the number of new cars licensed in August more than doubled compared with the same month last year.
The Central Statistics Office said 5,310 new cars were licensed in the month, compared with 2,422 a year earlier. Car sales have been showing strong increases this year, helped by the scrappage scheme introduced in the last Budget.
1,600, or just over 30%, of the new cars in August were petrol, while 3,553, almost 67%, were diesel. Toyota led the way with 703 new cars, followed by Renault (548), Volkswagen (545) and Ford (498).
For the first eight months of this year, the new cars figure is 73,689, up almost 50% on the same period last year, though still well below the 2008 figure of 137,566.
