New car sales down more than a third on last year

CAR sales during 2008 are continuing to slump dramatically with official figures showing the number of new vehicles licensed in September falling by almost 35% compared with the same month last year.

Data provided by the Central Statistics Office reveals that 4,364 new vehicles were registered last month — down 2,310 on the corresponding month in 2007.

Overall, the number of new private cars licensed in the first nine months of 2008 totalled 141,930 — a drop of just over 17% on the same period last year.