Local car sales continue to rise according to SIMI

The amount of new cars being bought in Carlow and Kilkenny is continuing to rise.

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry figures shows car sales are up by over 22 thousand compared to this time last year.

In Kilkenny, 2820 new cars have been sold so far this year compared to 2359 this time last year.

1756 new cars have been bought in Carlow so far in 2016 compared to the 2015 figure of 1468.

This year, over 146 thousand new cars have been sold across the country compared to 124 thousand in 2015.

The top selling makes in order are Hyundai, Volkswagen, Toyota, Ford and Nissan.

The top selling models are the Hyundai Tucson, Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia and Nissan Qashqai.

Sales of light commercial vans and cars are down by over 4000.