The number of new cars taxed for the first time rose by 12.9 per cent during the first six months of this year compared to the same period last year.
According to figures from the Central Statistics Office, while the total number of new vehicles taxed in June rose by just 1.8 per cent, there was a stronger growth in private cars.
Last month alone, tax was issued for the first time on 9,240 private cars, compared to 8,314 in June last year.
So far this year 69,254 new cars have been taxed for the first time, compared to 61,361 up to the end of June last year.
Diesel engines remain the firm favourite amongst new car buyers, comprising 48,899 of the new private cars taxed for the first time, compared to 18,839 petrol-engined cars and just 35 electric cars.
With dealers claiming that buyers are singularly focused on tax bands these days, it's unsurprising that 89 per cent of the new cars this year fall into the two lowest tax bands. These were also the bands within which buyers could avail of the scrappage scheme, which ended last month.
Toyota tops the list of brands with 9,370 new private cars taxed for the first time this year, followed by Volkswagen with 8,508, Ford with 8,222 and Renault with 6,732. At the premium end, BMW recorded 2,579 new cars, followed by Audi with 2,290.
The number of imported used cars dropped slightly to 20,035, but still represents a substantial portion of the cars taxed for the first time here.
However new motorcycles taxed for the first time numbered just 677 for the first six months, down 16.5 per cent on the same period last year and 46.3 per cent on the equivalent 2009 figure.
The CSO figures contrast with those issued by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) earlier in the month. The SIMI figures for the first six months show that 77,134 newly registered cars on our road.
It is possible that some new cars have been registered but remain untaxed, or are registered as demonstrator models by a dealership.
