The number of new cars registered in the State fell by more than 7 per cent in July, figures from the Central Statistics Office have revealed.
The first seven months of the year have seen a decrease of 3.2 per in new car registrations compared with the corresponding period last year.
There were 13,318 new private cars licensed in July, 2003, compared with 14,385 in July, 2002
First licensing of second-hand private cars fell by just 0.3 per cent on the same month last year and decreased by -5.8 year on year.
There was a sharp rise in the number of new goods vehicles licensed in July when compared with July 2002. The increase was recorded by the CSO as being 18.8 per cent last month and 14.1 per cent for the year to date.
The vehicle licensing figures also show that in the first seven months of the year the total number of all vehicles licensed was 164,309 compared with 163,900 in the same period last year, an increase of 0.2 per cent.
The highest number of new private cars licensed in July, classified by make, are Toyota (1,834) followed by Ford (1,762), Volkswagen (1,211), Nissan (1,188), Renault (895) and Opel (894).