Government revenue from VRT fell to just €30 million last month, down from €213.5 million in January 2008, reports the Irish Times...New registrations dropped by 66.5% in January, while new figures show that buyers are opting for environmentally cleaner, smaller cars. There has been a marked rise in the sale of small-engined cars that qualify for the lowest rate of VRT.

Registrations of cars that emit less than 121g/km of CO2 - which qualify for a rate of 14% VRT and annual motor tax of €104 - rose by 114% in January compared to January 2008. Cars that qualify for Band B were down just 13%. In contrast, sales of cars in all the higher emissions bands were down by between 70% and 93.4%...

The number of cars being registered by hire companies has also fallen. Hire-drive registrations are down 74.5% so far this year, with just 416 new cars entering that market. Fiat tops the list of rental registrations with 114 cars, or 43% of its overall registrations this year, followed by Hyundai, Opel and Alfa Romeo.

The best-selling car on the market in January was Ford's new Fiesta, with 1,041 registrations. It was followed by the Ford Focus (956), Nissan Qashqai (879), and Toyota's Avensis (744) and Corolla (534)...

Irish Times