New car numbers up 31.6% on last year - CSO

The number of new cars on Irish roads rose 31.6 per cent over the first ten months compared to the same period last year.

According to figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), 118,389 new private cars were licensed in the first ten months of 2015.

The number of used private cars licensed fell by 11.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2014.

The CSO said 3,943 new private cars were licensed for the first time last month, marking an increase of 27.9 per cent compared with October 2014. A total of 4,035 used private cars were licensed, representing a fall of 6.8 per cent on the same month last year.

In the first ten months of 2015, seven out of every ten (71 per cent) new private cars licensed were diesel fuelled.

Volkswagen was the most popular car brand in Ireland last month, with 473 new cars licensed, despite the emissions scandal. The German car giant confirmed in September it had fitted up to 11 million cars vehicles with software designed to cheat emissions tests.

Volkswagen was followed by Ford with 396 new cars licensed, BMW (283), Opel (280) and Skoda (278). Together these five makes represent 43.4 per cent of all new private cars licensed.