New car registrations for August were down 4.2% to 4,875 compared to the same month last year (5,088), new figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show.
SIMI said that registrations so far this year are down 28.6% to 78,920 on the same period last year when a total of 110,527 cars were registered.
Today's figures also show that used car imports for August decreased by 16.1%, while imports so far this year are down 45.1% on 2019.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, said that August represented another disappointing month for new car sales, with sales again down on the same month last year, as they have been each month of 2020.
"This has led a year to date reduction of 29% in new cars sales, and a 43% reduction over the last four years," Mr Cooke said.
"The industry is operating at the same business levels as 10 years ago, when the sector shed close to 15,000 jobs," he added.
The SIMI boss also said that the outlook for 2021 is not optimistic, with the negative impact of both Covid-19 and Brexit meaning that new car sales will continue at recession levels.
"With Budget 2021 only weeks away, now is the time for a significant reduction in Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT)," Brian Cooke said.
"This would enable the car market return to normal sustainable levels that would not only save jobs, but increase overall tax take and help renew the Irish car fleet, reducing both the age of the fleet and emissions from transport", he added.
Today's SIMI figures show that electric vehicle sales jumped over 72% in August compared to the same time last year, while they are 3.4% higher so far this year.
296 electric vehicles were registered in August compared to 172 the same time last year.
SIMI also said that the five top selling car brands so far this year are Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, Skoda and Ford.
The top five car models sold so far in 2020 were the Toyota Corolla, the Hyundai Tucson, the Volkswagen Tiguan, the Ford Focus and the Hyundai Kona while the top selling car in August was the Hyundai Kona.
Grey, black and white were the three most popular colours of cars registered last month, SIMI added.
