New car sales rise almost 18% to highest in a decade

New car sales rose by almost 18% last year to more than 142,000 — the highest figure in almost a decade.

Figures from the CSO show 142,688 new private cars were licensed for the first time in 2016 — an increase of 17.8% compared with the previous year.

Despite the increase, this figure remains some way short of the peak of 2007 when 180,754 new private cars were licensed.