New car sales rise 29.2 per cent in February

New car sales rose by 29.2 per cent in February, when compared with the same month in 2014, with 15,384 cars were licensed in the month.

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), which bases its figures on the number of vehicles being licensed in Ireland for the first time, there were 35,489 new private cars licensed in the year to the end of February, a rise of 27.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2014.

In the month of February, the total number of all vehicles licensed was 25,010 compared with 20,419 in the corresponding month last year - an increase of 22.5 per cent.

The number of new goods vehicles licensed during the month rose by 58 per cent when compared to February 2014, climbing to 2,560.

Toyota was the most popular car in Ireland for the year to the end of February, accounting for 4,523 of new private cars licensed. This was followed by Volkswagen (4,273), Ford (3,885) and Nissan (3,219).