The number of new cars licensed in July dropped 1.2 per cent on the same period last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.
For the year to the end of July, 118,938 new cars were licensed, a fall of 8.3 per cent. In July, 14,386 new cars were registered.
Licensing of second-hand cars is also down - 10 per cent for July and more than double that for the first seven months of the year.
The total number of all vehicles licensed in the first seven months of 2002 was 163,921, down 9 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
