Car sales fall nearly 8% in February

Sales of new cars fell 7.6 per cent in February with 10,619 registrations recorded. It brings the total so far this year to 27,854, down 15 per cent on the same period last year.

According to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, Volkswagen is the best-selling brand this year with a 12 per cent market share, ahead of Toyota (10.6 per cent), Ford (10 per cent) and Hyundai (8.2 per cent).

The society’s deputy director general, Brian Cooke, said: “While still down on last year, the fall in February was significantly less than it had been in January. We weren’t expecting any significant boost from the new number plate system in year one, but at least people now understand that the new system will be continued in future years and the misconception that it was for this year only has dissipated.”

Once more the market was revived by a dramatic surge in new car registrations on the last day of the month. Nearly a quarter of all registrations in February – 2,559 new cars – took place two days ago.

Thirty per cent of all new VW Golfs sold last month, and 40 per cent of all new Ford Focus cars, were registered on February 28th.

Leitrim, Offaly, Monaghan and Roscommon all recorded falls of more than 30 per cent in registrations. Dublin registrations were down 8.6 per cent.

The best-selling car is the Nissan Qashqai (1,335 registrations), slightly ahead of the new VW Golf (1,320).