New car registrations increased by 6 per cent year on year in October, but the market is down 12 per cent so far in 2012.

With most new car sales taking place at the start of the year, there were just 1,661 new registrations in October, bringing the total so far this year to 78,286.

Volkswagen remains the best selling car brand with 9,906 registrations giving it a 12.65 per cent share, closely followed by Toyota with 9,790.

Ford is third with 8,434, but its Focus model remains the best-selling car on the market with 3,656 sales.

Hyundai is the only brand in the top six best-selling marques to record growth this year, with registrations up 30 per cent on last year to 5,182 cars.

According to the Society for the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), new car sales will end the year just short of 80,000, which would be down 10,000 lower than last year.

A spokeswoman said that a change in the registration system has also been widely reported and the motor trade is hopeful that consumers will be attracted by the prospect of a new format number plate in January.