New car sales down 12 per cent in first three months of the year

NEW car sales in County Wicklow fell almost 12 per cent during the first three months of the year, but the numbers of Brexit-driven used imports continues to rise.

A total of 1,908 new cars were sold in the county during the first quarter of last year, but this fell to 1,681 between last January and the end of March this year, representing 2.21 per cent of the market share, compared to 2.3 per cent in the same period of 2016.

At the same time, used car imports from the UK continue to soar with national registration figures up 56 per cent on the first quarter compared to the first quarter of last year.

Sales of new cars in neighbouring County Wexford fell by more than 15 per cent during the first three months of this year.

A total of 1,799 cars were sold during the quarter, compared to 2,131 during the same period of 2016, representing a 2.37 per cent market share compared to 2.57 per cent during the first three months of last year.

With almost 24,000 used vehicles imported in the first quarter, the motor trade is predicting a total of 94,000 used cars will be imported this year, compared to 72,000 in 2016, however, with predictions that Sterling is going to rise in value against the Euro during the second half of the year, that number could be lower.

Michael Rochford, Managing Director of Motorcheck.ie said the industry is coming off three years of sustained annual growth with 30 per cent year-on-year increases becoming commonplace.

‘ This was never going to be sustained into the future and it was felt that this year would see a levelling off in sales. The dip in sales is largely down to uncertainty in the economy caused by Brexit, whilst the strength of the Euro against Sterling has made it very attractive to import used vehicles from the UK and consequently many people are opting for a nearly new import rather than a brand-new vehicle,’ he said.

SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan said the society have previously indicated that the extent of the apparent fall in registrations over recent weeks were at least in part a question of timing, as in 2016 Easter had fallen in March with the result that the seasonal registration of Hire-drive fleets was always going to be later this year.

‘With these starting to come through in the last few days of the month we have seen the figures start to improve but clearly the trend is indicating a reduction on last year’s market,’ he said.