New car registrations were up 28 per cent (2,571 ) last month when compared to October 2014 (2,011 ). New car registrations for the year are currently up 30 per cent (123,670 ) on the same period last year. Light commercial vehicles (LCVs ) were down 13 per cent (1,206 ) on October 2014 (1,392 ), but year to date are up 43 per cent (22,848 ).
Heavy goods vehicle registrations are down 30 per cent for the month of October (153 ) compared to the same month last year (221 ), and are up six per cent year to date.
Commenting on the figures, SIMI director general Alan Nolan said: “Although we are talking about relatively small numbers at this time of year, new car registrations are continuing to perform ahead of last year, month on month, as the industry continues to strive towards a more normal level of business. The success of the two period registration system continues to be highlighted in the numbers with the 152 period delivering even better than last year’s second period.
"The 152 registrations are now likely to represent in excess of 34 per cent of the year’s new car registrations compared to just less than 32 per cent last year," he added. "With over 120,000 new cars registered by the end of last month, this represents the highest growth in new car registrations in seven years, as 2008 (151,444 ) was the last year when sales were at sustainable levels.”
He continued: “Both light and heavy commercial vehicles are down for the month of October, this is not surprising as we are coming towards the end of the year with the focus moving towards 2016.”
