New car numbers show 14% fall

The number of new private cars on our roads has fallen by 14 per cent this year, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The number of new private cars taxed for first time in August was 3,736, up 2.3 per cent on the same month last year. This brings the total for the year so far to 68,836, down from 79,860 for the same period last year. It's the lowest number for this eight-month period since 2009.

The most popular new cars so far this year are Volkswagen (8,783), followed closely by Toyota (8,719), Ford (7,382), and Nissan (5,492). In the premium sector VW's sister brand Audi is the most popular with 3,231, followed by BMW with 2,927, Mercedes-Benz with 1,569 and Lexus with 226.

In terms of tax bands, 92 per cent of the new cars fell into either band A or B, with CO2 emissions of 140g/km or less. Some 36,745 of the new cars qualify for annual motor tax of €160, while another 26,625 will be charged €225 a year. Just 43 new cars this year fall into the highest tax band G, incurring an annual motor tax bill of €2,258.

While 73 per cent of new cars were diesel, 111 electric cars were also taxed for the first time between January and August, along with 543 hybrids.

The CSO figures also show the number of used imported cars taxed for the first time stood at 25,352, down 7 per cent on last year. The most popular brands for those importing used cars this year are Ford (4,117), Volkswagen (3,459), Audi (2,585), Toyota (2,509) and BMW (2,048).