The economic downturn has made a significant dent on new car sales, the latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicates.
The figures show there were 4,364 new private cars licensed last month, compared with 6,674 in September 2007, a decrease of 34.6 per cent.
In the first nine months of 2008, there were 141,930 new private cars licensed, a decrease of 17.1 per cent on the same period last year.
During the same period, there were 47,575 second-hand private cars licensed, an increase of 5.1 per cent on the corresponding period in 2007.
In September, the total number of all vehicles licensed was 14,292 compared with 17,379 during the same month in 2007 - a decrease of 17.8 per cent.
Approximately 57 per cent or 2,491 of the 4,364 new private cars licensed in September were diesel and 41.1 per cent or 1,795 were petrol.
The highest number of new private cars licensed in September 2008, classified by make, was Ford (526) followed by Toyota (438), Volkswagen (410), Opel (357) and Nissan (339).
