There were 11,420 new private cars licensed in July 1997 - a rise of 461 on the same month last year, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). The figures also show that in July the most popular make of new private car was Ford, followed by Volkswagen/Audi, Opel, Toyota and Nissan. The number of new cars licensed in the first seven months of this year was 91,346, some 4,286 higher than in the corresponding period of last year.