Car sales fall 12% as dealers hope growth will accelerate

Car sales slumped by more than 12% in 2012 to raise fresh fears of contraction in the sector following two years of growth.

New figures published by the CSO show 76,256 new private cars were licensed in 2012 — down 10,676 vehicles on the previous year’s total.

It represents a 12.3% decrease in the number of new cars sold last year. The total number of new vehicles sold in 2012 is almost 60% off the sales level reached in 2007 when 180,754 new cars were licensed.