by Trish Whelan. Car sales rose by 14.2 percent in May over the same period last year — the fifth month in a row that registrations have risen.
The best-selling car was again the Ford Focus, which, with 1,589 units, claimed 9.0 percent of the market.
Toyota was the overall market leader, increasing its volumes by almost 40 percent to gain a 15.8 percent share of the market. Ford came second with 15.5 percent market share. VW was third, followed by Nissan and GM Opel.
Total cars sales increased from 15,414 in May 2004 to 17,601 last month, bringing sales for the year to 122,829, a 13.5% increase on the same period last year.
