Motorists burned out with petrol vehicles

MOTORISTS are turning away from highly polluting diesel cars – with new sales down almost 4,500 last month compared to a year ago, new figures show.

January is the best month of the year for new car sales, but just 21,174 diesels rolled off forecourts last month compared to 25,557 in the same month last year – a drop of 17%.

Diesel was still the bestselling car type with more than half of sales – 57% – but it is down from nearly two-thirds of new sales in January last year.

At the same time petrol car sales were up from 11,888 in January 2017 to 13,414 last month – an extra 1,526. This saw petrol’s share rise from 30% to 36%.

Petrol/electric hybrid cars had the biggest sales rise – up from 1,343 a year ago to 2,324 this January, a 73% increase.

Electric-only car sales fell last month to 104 compared to 168 a year ago. However, Society of the Irish Motor Industry director Alan Nolan said this was down to ‘a timing issue with supply and later new model delivery dates’. ‘The sector remains confident that EV [electric vehicle] registrations will increase significantly in 2018,’ he added.

Meanwhile, economist Jim Power warned that the fall in the value of sterling since the Brexit vote more than 18 months ago will likely hinder the new car market this year.

He explained: ‘In normal circumstances, the positive economic backdrop would be expected to deliver growth of up to 10% in the new car market in 2018. However, the distortionary impact of sterling weakness and the associated surge in used imports from the UK will in all likelihood more than offset the positive economics.’