New car sales down two thirds over last year

New car sales were down by two-thirds last month over the same period last year, data from the Central Statistics Office today revealed.

According to the CSO, 10,997 new cars were registered in January, down from 32,961 in 2008, a decrease of 66.6 per cent. There were 29,281 new cars registered in January 2007.

A total of 996 goods vehicles were registered for the first time last month, compared to 4,266 a year earlier. This equates to a decline of 71.1 per cent.

Of the new cars registered in January, 57.9 per cent were diesel and 40.7 per cent were petrol. A total of 59 new hybrid cars and 95 ethanol-powered cars were licenced last month

In terms of CO2 emissions, the figures show 5,339 of the new cars registered fell into tax band B, which costs €150 per year. This is nearly half of the total of all new cars. 

Some 3,555 new cars licenced had engines of between 1,600 and 2,000cc, while under 500 had engines with a capacity of over 2,001cc.

The numbers of second-hand cars first registered last month showed a slight decline over last year. Of the 6,596 used vehicles first licenced last month, 4,472 were private cars, compared to 4,490 in 2008 and 4,441 in 2007.

The most popular make of new car sold in the first month of this year was Ford, of which 2,039 were licensed. In second place was Toyota (1,791), followed by Nissan (1,046), Volkswagen (935) and Opel (783).

In the premium marques sector, Audi sold 403 cars, followed by BMW (287), Mercedes Benz (233), Lexus (49),  Range Rover (40) and Alfa Romeo (16).

The most imported brand was Volkswagen, with 796 cars first registered last month, followed by BMW (558) and Toyota (527).