New car sales 6% down on last year

New car sales for October were up 2 percent on October last year while sales for the year are still down 6 percent, writes Trish Whelan.

Figures from SIMI show that 1,696 cars were sold in October against 1,658 for the same month last year.

In October, the top selling car brands were Volkswagen followed by Toyota and Skoda. Top selling models were the Opel Insignia followed by the Dacia Duster and VW Polo.

Some 73,395 cars have been sold so far this year against 78,375 last year. Year to date, the top selling cars brands were Volkswagen followed by Toyota and Ford. Best sellers were VW Golf, Nissan Qashqai and Ford Focus. Diesel is still most popular with 26.6 percent petrol.

Meanwhile van sales are up 2 percent this year. Ford, VW and Renault are the best selling van makes. Top sellers were Ford Transit, VW Caddy and Land Rover Discovery.

Truck sales were up by 18 percent with DAF, Volvo and Scania the best selling truck makes.