Car registration falls sharply in May

The number of new cars joining the congestion on Irish roads in May dropped sharply, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) this morning.

The figures also show that cars licensed in the year to date are at their lowest level in five years.

There were 15,371 new private cars licensed last month, compared with 18,775 in May of last year, a decrease of just over 18 per cent.

In the first five months of this year, there were 89,686 new private cars licensed, a decrease of 2 per cent on the corresponding periodlast year and the lowest figure since 1998.

First licensing of second-hand private cars decreased by 69 (-5.8 per cent) on the same month last year and decreased by 562 (-10 per cent) in the year to date.

New goods vehicles licensed increased by 560 (19 per cent) last month when compared with May of last year and increased by 1,422 (9.9%) in the first five months of 2003 by comparison with the same period last year.

The CSO's vehicle licensing figures also show that:

In the period January-May 2003, the total number of all vehicleslicensed was 124,730 compared with 124,470 in the same period lastyear, an increase of 0.2 per cent.There was an decrease of 11.9 per cent in the total number of new vehicles licensed in May, 2003 in comparison with the corresponding month last year.The highest number of new private cars licensed in May, classified by make are Toyota (2,039) followed by Volkswagen (1,744), Ford(1,605), Nissan (1,402), Opel (1,164) and Renault (1,105).