Car sales continue to fall as new vehicles licensed declines 34%

NEW car sales continued to plummet last month with the number of new private vehicles licensed down more than 34% on an annual basis.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the overall number of private cars registered in the first six months of 2009 has fallen by 63% compared with the same period last year.

They show that just 42,365 new cars were licensed between January and June this year compared with 114,569 cars licensed during the first half of 2008.