DUBLIN, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A total of 83,108 private cars were sold in Ireland in the first quarter of this year, slightly down by 0.6 percent compared with the same period last year, said the country's national statistics bureau CSO on Monday.

The total sales included 58,402 new cars and 24,706 used cars, according to CSO.

The new private car sales in the first three months of this year dropped by 3.9 percent while that of the used cars went up by 8.1 percent when compared with the corresponding period of last year, said CSO.

The drop in the overall private car sales in the January-March period was partially due to the disruptions of a severe snowstorm that hit the country at the beginning of March, said local traders.

Earlier last month, a heavy snowstorm swept across the whole Ireland, resulting in days of closures of all major transportation facilities and many businesses in the country.

According to the CSO figures, Toyota was the most popular make of new private cars sold in the first quarter of 2018, accounting for 10.66 percent of the market share, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Ford and Nissan.