Sales of new cars exceed 100,000 in seven months

The sale of new cars has soared to over 100,000 for the first time since 2008 — as more cars were sold in the first seven months of this year than in all of 2014.

Figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) and DoneDeal show ‘152’ registrations for July were up 48% (27,633) on ‘142’ registrations in the same month last year, and are currently up 30% (109,960) for the first half of this year.

Light commercial vehicles were up 49% (3,768) on July 2014 (2,535) while, for the year to date, they were up 54% (18,426). Similarly, heavy goods vehicles were up some 41% for the month of July, 41% (291) compared to the same month last year (207).