Wicklow bucks trend as car sales increase

SALES OF new cars in Wicklow during January are slightly up on last year, bucking the national trend which saw almost every county in Ireland reporting lower sales of new vehicles.

Wicklow sales rose by 0.42 per cent from 954 in January last year to 958 in January 2018.

In neighbouring Wexford, new car sales are are almost two per cent down on the comparative period last year as Brexit continues to impact the market.

Figures just released by the SIMI show that 1038 units were sold in the county during January of this year, compared to 1058 in January, 2017, a fall of 1.89 per cent.

The SIMI-DoneDeal report highlights a number of price decreases in the cost of motoring.

The average price of a new car in 2017 was two per cent lower than a year earlier, while the cost of motor insurance in December 2017 was 10.9 per cent lower than it was a year earlier. However, the cost of fuel increased with Petrol prices up 4.2 per cent and Diesel prices up 3.6 per cent last year.

The report shows Ireland’s strong economic performance last year, but despite high levels of consumer confidence, the motor industry faced a significant and uncertain year with monthly declines in new car registrations figures, reflecting the substantial impact of Brexit.

Used car imports increased by 29.5 per cent in 2017 aided by the weakness in sterling and this also impacted on new car sales volumes by dampening the residual value of Irish used cars this increasing the cost to change for consumers.

Looking ahead to 2018 economic factors look positive however Brexit related uncertainty looks set to continue.

Economist Jim Power, the author of the SIMI-DoneDeal report, said that in normal circumstances, the positive economic backdrop would be expected to deliver growth of up to 10 per cent 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,’ he said.

For 2018, the used import market is projected to grow by 20 per cent to reach 114,950 vehicles. New car registrations in 2018 are forecast at 118,220, which would represent a decline of 10 per cent on 2017.

Nationally, sales of electric vehicles is up 0.2 per cent to 0.47 per cent of all cars sold in 2017. Hybrids are up from 1.75 per cent to 3.38 per cent, while sales of petrol vehicles have risen from 27.7 per cent to 30.67 per cent between 2016 and 2017.

Sales of diesels have gone in the opposite direction, from 70.06 per cne to 65.23 per cent. However, sales of diesel vehicles still dominate the market.

Government revenue on car sales between 2016 and 2017, shows a revenue decrease of 15 per cent, with revenue from new car sales down by 7.7 per cent, TO €1.19 billion, however, VRT on used car imports is up by more than a third to €299.6 million.