New car sales improved in Carlow and Kilkenny in 2021

However sales were still down on 2019 figures

3 thousand and 38 new cars were sold locally in 2021.

While both counties fell below the national average Carlow still recorded a significant rise of 14% on the figures for 2020.

A more modest rise was recorded in Kilkenny with sales up just over 4% on the previous year.

Overall while the sales were up on 2020 levels they were still down more than 10% on 2019.

However electric car sales more than doubled – a trend that is expected to continue into 2022.

Toyota was the most popular car brand in 2021 followed by Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda and Ford.