August car sales plunge by almost two thirds

ANOTHER dramatic reduction in the sale of new cars was recorded in August with official figures showing the number of new private vehicles licensed fell by 64.5% from the same period last year.

Just 2,422 new private cars were licensed last month compared with over 6,800 a year ago,according to the Central Statistics Office. The number of new goods vehicles registered in August also fell by 39% to 869, compared with 1,425 the previous year. The CSO figures would suggest the collapse in car sales last month is even greater than figures provided by theSociety of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) which claimed last week that sales in August were down 54%. SIMI director general, Alan Nolan has described the level of new car registrations this summer as “worryingly low”.

Overall, a total of 49,142 private cars have been registered in the first eight months of 2009 compared with 137,566 in the same period last year. More than half of all new cars registered last month were in the two cheapest CO2 emission bands for motor tax purposes.