21 August 2002: The Society of the Irish Motor Industry statistics for July 2002 show that total passenger car registrations for the month were 12,471 (+1.43% on the same period 2001) and 132,187 year to date (-6.57% on the same period 2001),

Cyril McHugh, chief executive, SIMI stated 'that this positive increase in new car sales for July reflects the return of confidence in the market place' following the negatives events of Winter 2001/2002

Predicting new passenger car sales in the region of 150,00 for 2002, Mr McHugh said 'government income from VRT and AT from new car sales for the first seven months was 6.14% of tax revenue receipts and the contribution from the total motoring sector (including fuel excise duty and road tax) was 15.78% of taxation revenue receipts. This he said, "imposes an unacceptable burden on motorists."

Top Twelve Marques January to July 02: 1. Toyota 14,843, 11.23%; 2. Ford 14,728, 11.14%; 3. VW 13,883, 10.5%; 4. Nissan 12,864, 9.73%; 5. Opel 10,240, 7.75%; 6. Renault 9,654, 7.30%; 7. Fiat 7,987, 6.04%; 8. Peugeot 7,715, 5.84%; 9. Hyundai 3,996, 3.02%; 10. Citroen 3,683, 2.79%; 11. BMW 3,647, 2.76%; 12. Skoda 3,512, 2.66%.