New car sales down 21% in February

New car sales are down 21% in February.

Car sales are traditionally seen as an indicator of how the economy is looking, and figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show the new car market for the year so far, has fallen behind by 8.7%.

Commenting on the figures Alan Nolan SIMI Director General said “We have been anticipating lower numbers in February compared to 2016, with Brexit continuing to impact on used vehicle imports, with fewer working days this year and with less hire-drive cars because of a later Easter but these numbers are somewhat poorer than we had hoped.

"The Industry projections for the year suggest a market close to 140,000 for 2017, compared to 147,000 last year, but as Economist Jim Power stated previously, “predicting the new car market for this year is going to be far more difficult than usual”.