The growth in new car sales ended last month with 253 fewer cars registered compared with March 1996. But Mr Eddie Nolan, chairman and managing director of Ford in Ireland, said it was just "a hiccup".
In the first quarter, the new car market was up 8 per cent. It was led by Opel with 6,732 registrations or 13.1 per cent of the total sales. Second was Ford: with 6,554 or 12.8 per cent and Toyota was third with 5,337, 10.4 per cent.