No January new car boom in Offaly with just 73 registered

Just 73 cars with the 2010 registration are currently motoring around Offaly roads despite the introduction of a new Government scrappage scheme in last December's budget. Latest figures from the Revenue Commissioners show only 73 new cars were registered in the Faithful County in the first ten days of the New Year, the second lowest in the Midlands behind Laois with 81, and 76 new vehicles in Westmeath, statistics that have laid bare the current crisis in the motor industry in Ireland. Ten used cars were also registered in Offaly over the same period. The new statistics from the State tax body reveal there were only 4,521 new cars in total notified to them in the State since the beginning of 2010, with used cars in the same category only hitting a paltry 729 nationwide. New cars in Dublin accounted for the largest share of new car total since January 1 at 28% or 1,267, Cork is next with 654 and Kildare in third place with 190. The county with the lowest number of new vehicles on the highways and byways of Ireland was in Leitrim with just 19. Used car sales hit just 729 around the country between January 1 and 10 according to the Revenue Commissioners figures, with Dublin unsurprisingly the highest at 161, but at the other end of the scale entirely was Limerick with one single used car registered in the city and county since the beginning of the year. Separate research by the CSO showed the fall-off in 2010 continues the trends of the year before as the number of new private cars licensed for the first time fell 28.9 per cent in December 2009, leading to a total fall of almost 63 per cent for the entire twelve month period. Only 474 were registered during December nationwide, compared with 667 in December 2008. In total, the figures were down 62.8 per cent compared with 2008, with 54,432 new private vehicles licensed for the first time during 2009, compared to 146,470 the year before.