Callan got his kicks at the SIMI night

Oliver Callan hosted the dinner and awards presentation, held annually by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, on Thursday night and he was in blistering form. The motor trade in Ireland is very much male dominated, and while women have become increasingly visible, Callan remarked as he looked around the room that their representation was ‘almost at Saudi Arabian level’. He didn’t spare the carmakers either as he mentioned Lexus (‘the old Latin word for “Toyotas with notions”’); Kia (‘first prize in the raffle is six bottles of champagne – second prize is a Picanto’); and Volkswagen (‘I would remind you this is a nosmoking venue, even for monkeys’). Aside from the humour, there was a serious side to proceedings. SIMI president Gavin Hydes (gamely taking to the stage on crutches and wearing an ankle boot after a skiing accident) sounded a warning about the size of the new car sales market this year. The prediction for 2017 was that 150,000 new cars would be driven off the forecourts. In the event, the actual total was just 131,356, a 10% drop on the 2016 figure. Why? The simple answer is imports. Last year, 93,954 cars were imported, mostly from Northern Ireland and Great Britain, thanks to the value on offer after the fall in sterling that followed the Brexit vote. This is a serious issue for the distributors here, who have dropped prices in a bid to compete. Even so, the more cautious prediction for 2018 is sales of 120,000 new cars, a long way from the peak in 2000, when we bought over 200,000. On the plus side, 120,000 still is a lot better than we saw in 2009. As austerity bit deep, we abandoned the showrooms, and only 57,446 cars were sold. Mr Hydes noted that the secondhand market is about three times the size of the new car market, but also warned that anyone importing a second-hand car get a full vehicle history check to make sure it has not been clocked, or patched up after a crash. Always remember – if a bargain sounds like it’s too good to be true, then it probably should ring an alarm bell.