Downward trend in new car sales continued in April

WHILE the downward trend in new car sales continued in April, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) General Secretary Alan Nolan, said: ‘ the industry is continuing to entice consumers with very strong offers to the degree that even with lower sterling values, as a result of Brexit, virtually no new cars have been imported because of the value available here.’ THIS will be encouraging news for Louth dealers, where new car registrations for the month of Aoril were down 16 per cent, with 1,790 registrations compared to 2,138 in April 2016. NATIONALLY new car registrations for the month of April were down 24 per cent at 7,865 compared to 10,381 April 2016, while new cars registrations year to date are down ten per cent at 83,831 on the same period last year with 93,205.

SIMI have also reported that used car imports have increased by 56 per cent while Light Commerical Vehichle imports were up 53 per cent on the first quarter of 2016. Used car imports are primarily between 3 and 5 years old, 49 per cent, reflecting the shortage of second hand cars during the registration period 2009 to 2013 and the over 6 years age group, 37 per cent. While the number of imports nearly new are relatively low 9 per cent, up to 2 years old, overall the volume of imports is impacting even if indirectly on the new car market.

However the industry remained optimistic that 2017 is shaping up to be a good year, although difficult to predict. still