August car sales soar by 20%

In a boost to the motor trade, the number of new cars licensed last month jumped by more than 20% compared to last year.

According to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office, some 4,504 new cars were licensed in August — up 20.6% from the same period in 2012. Imported used cars licensed also grew by just over 48% to 4,422 for the same period.

The most popular make of car in terms of new cars licensed in August was Volkswagen (563), followed by Toyota (465), Ford (412), and Hyundai (325).

There were 63,313 new private cars licensed in the year to the end of Aug 2013, down 8% compared to the same period in 2012. The corresponding figure for used imported cars was 32,702 — up 29%.

The CSO figures show that, in August, the total number of all vehicleslicensed was 12,519 compared with 9,335 in the corresponding month last year — an increase of 34.1%.

The number of new goods vehicles licensed in Aug 2013 was 1,018 — a rise of just over 12% from August of last year.

The latest statistics from the CSO are largely in line with those issued by Motorcheck.ie earlier this week which found an increase in sales of 19% for August.

The Motorcheck.ie statistics found there were 3,693 new cars sold in August, compared to 3,093 last year. This brings sales for the year to date up to 68,300, only 7.5% behind 2012’s total of 73,837 for the same period.

The top August sellers, in order, were Volkswagen, Skoda, BMW, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Audi, Opel, Kia, and Dacia.

Commenting on the latest car sales figures, Motorcheck.ie co-founder Shane Teskey said it was an encouraging period for the motor industry.