Source: CSO

Irish new car sales plunged 31.8% in August compared with August 2007 according to the CSO today. Sales in first eight months of 2008 were down by 16.4%.

There were 6,822 new private cars licensed in August 2008, compared with 10,006 in August, 2007, a decrease of 31.8%.

A CO₂ emission rating was available for 6,214 of the new private cars with 48.8% in Band B, 24% in Band C, 10.8% in Band D, 9.4 % in Band A and the remaining 7% in Bands E, F and G.

In the first eight months of 2008, there were 137,566 new private cars licensed, a decrease of 16.4% on the corresponding period in 2007. In the same period in 2008 there were 42,413 second-hand private cars licensed, an increase of 4.6% on the corresponding period in 2007.

The number of new goods vehicles licensed in August 2008 was 1,425 compared with 3,272 in the corresponding month last year – a decrease of 56.4%.

The vehicle licensing figures also show that:

In August 2008, the total number of all vehicles licensed was 16,639 compared with 22,113 during the same month in 2007 – a decrease of 24.8.%.

The total number of all new vehicles licensed during August 2008 was 9,355 compared with 14,667 during the same month in 2007 – a decrease of 36.2%.

In August 2008, of the 6,822 new private cars licensed, 3,904 (57.2%) were diesel and 2,807 (41.1%) were petrol.

The highest number of new private cars licensed in August 2008, classified by make, was Toyota (720) followed by Ford (698), Opel (692), BMW (598) and Volkswagen (590).

The licensing figures refer to vehicles taxed for road use only and classified by taxation class.