Number of new cars licensed up to 11,707

THE NUMBER of new cars licensed last month increased 33 per cent compared to February 2009, according to CSO figures released yesterday.

There were 11,707 new private cars licensed (taxed) last month, compared with 8,793 in the same month in 2009.

The number of new goods vehicles licensed in February 2010 grew even more – 1,494 compared with 1,097 in the corresponding month last year – in an increase of 36.2 per cent, the CSO reported.

Of the 11,707 new private cars licensed last month, 4,317 (36.9 per cent) were petrol and 6,804 (58.1 per cent) were diesel.

In terms of model, the most popular new private car licensed in February 2010 was Toyota (1,663) followed by Volkswagen (1,460), Ford (1,402) and Renault (1,094).

Toyota’s strong performance comes despite a crisis since Christmas involving a series of recalls over unintended acceleration and braking problems that now includes more than 8.5 million vehicles globally.

The total number of all new vehicles licensed during February 2010 was 14,061 compared with 10,922 during the same month in 2009, an increase of 28.7 per cent.

In terms of all vehicles licensed, there were 19,496 last month compared with 18,604 in the corresponding month last year, an increase of 4.8 per cent.

A Society of the Irish Motor Industry spokeswoman said that February was the third month running for increased new car registrations.

She said that the scrappage scheme was having a positive knock-on effect in the sector, but called for greater availability of financing for customers to buy cars.