New car sales down 3.9% in first quarter of 2018
New car sales down
New CSO (Central Statistics Office) figures show a total of 16,088 new private cars were licensed for the first time last month which, for the first time, was a fall of 6.4% compared to the same time in March last year.
When comparing new private cars licensed for the first time in March 2018 to March 2017 we can appreciate the drop. Last year, the total figure of private new car licenced was 17,180 compared to 16, 088 this year.
The total number of used or imported private cars were licensed in March was 8,078, which was a fall of 3.1% on the same month last year.
When it comes to the first quarter of 2018, the CSO figures have revealed that 58,402 new private cars were licensed, again down 3.9% on the same time last year.
The number of used private cars licensed increased by 8.1% to 24,706 compared with a figure of 22,856 the same time in 2017.
The grand total number of private cars, taking into consideration both new and used cars licensed in the first quarter of the year stood at 83,108 - down 0.6% when compared with the first quarter of 2017.
Meanwhile, a total of 8,563 new goods vehicles were licensed in the first quarter of this year compared with 8,877 the same time last year - a decrease of 3.5%.
Of all the car makes oy there, Toyota was the most popular manufacturer of new private cars licensed in the first three months of 2018, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Ford and Nissan.
Together these five makes represent 49.1% of all new private cars licensed in the first three months of the year. AIn March, the most popular new private car model was the Nissan Qashqai. 
Author
Justin Kavanagh
Justin Kavanagh is a recognised leader
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