Despite slowdown, new car registrations are ahead of 2015 total
NEW car sales figures year to date are 19% ahead of the same period last year, figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) have revealed.
Up to the end of July this year 131,264 cars were registered. The figure for the same period last year was 109,931.
It means the total to the end of July this year has already surpassed the total number of new cars registered for the whole of 2015 (124,947).
The month of July saw 162 registrations increase by 8% (29,931) compared to July 2015 (27,594).
In Mayo, 2,533 cars have been registered year to date, up from 2,139 last year. That's an increase of over 18%.
Nationally, the commercial vehicles sector continues to perform well also, with light commercials up 15% (4,341) on the same month last year (3,760) and up 23% (22,746) overall year to date. Heavy goods vehicle (HGV) registrations are also up 37% for the month of July (397) when compared to July last year (290), with registrations up 41% year to date.
The top selling car in July year to date is the Hyundai Tuscon. Hyundai is the top selling marque also, ahead of Toyota.
Commenting on the figurers, SIMI director general Alan Nolan said: “The motor industry performed strongly in the first half of 2016, with increased activity in both car and commercial vehicle sales.
“This growth has continued into July, although at a noticeably slower rate than the first two quarters, perhaps due to a combination of external factors such as Brexit and the fact that the extremely high growth rates of recent years must naturally slow as we get closer to a more normal market following a period of catch up.
“It is important, however, for both the industry and the economy that new vehicle sales continue to be at sustainable levels, which for new cars is in the region of 150,000 to 160,000 based on the current population and the age of the national car fleet.
“A new car market in the region of 150,000 delivers over €1 billion in tax revenues, supports the employment of more than 40,000 in the motor industry, and assists in reducing our CO2 emissions from transport by tens of thousands of tonnes.
“In this context, we would encourage a budget strategy focused on building consumer confidence and improving the business environment, particularly with all recent economic forecasts for Ireland anticipating lower growth rates than had been previously expected for the remainder of this year and for 2017.”