New car sales for the second half of the year, got off to a blistering start yesterday with more cars registered than in the whole of the month of June. A total of 1,927 cars were registered compared with just one registration on July 1 last year.

Alan Nolan, Director General of SIMI: “It’s a very positive start to the new ‘132’ year.  Clearly motorists can see the benefits of a ‘132’ plate and are availing of the offers out there, with many only available for the introductory period.”

He continued: Feedback from Dealerships had indicated a lot of interest in the run up to the new plate but it’s always hard to gauge just how much until we see the actual registrations coming through. As it’s the first year of the new dual registration, we hope that the momentum continues for the coming weeks and months.”