Car sales continue to improve

Without much fanfare the Society of the Irish Motor Industry released their car sales figures for March last week.  The figures show a continued recovery in the sales of new cars.  This is good news.
Sales in March 2010 were 78% better than sales in March 2009 (13,813 versus 7,764).   This follows a 39% increase for February and a 5% increase for January.  Here are the monthly sales figures for the first three months of the year for 2007 to 2010.  Click image to enlarge.

The improved performance in 2010 can be clearly seen for February and March.  There has been a 31% increase in new car sales for the first quarter relative to the same period last year. 
This year 42,554 new cars have been registered compared to 32,447 last year, an increase of just over 10,000.  It is true that there are more ‘10’ reg cars on the road.