Retailers disappointed at modest rise in car sales

New car registrations for the month of January exceeded those recorded last year by just 4.6%, despite the introduction of a Government scrappage scheme.

Today's newly released statistics from the Motorcheck.ie Car Index show that 16,612 cars were registered for 2010 as compared with 15,877 in 2009.

"Given that the majority of sales occur in the first quarter, it's a disappointing start meaning that dealers will be concerned about the total sales potential for 2010," said Motorcheck.ie director Shane Teskey.

"Anecdotally we're hearing that an inability to source finance is still a serious problem.

"Although an improvement in consumer confidence and a manufacturer strategy of heavily discounting new car prices has generated significant interest in the sector, the 'finance famine' currently being experienced by new car dealers is suffocating sales."

Revenue coffers will be bit hit with a double blow as combined with poor sales in new cars, the number of used cars being imported to Ireland dropped 47% in January 2010 against registrations recorded for January 2009

Used cars being imported to Ireland are subject to Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) a significant part of the tax take which has been declining rapidly in recent months.

The most popular Manufacturer in January is Ford with 2,641 registrations. Their Fiesta and Focus models have proven to be first and second most popular with 1,060 and 922 respectively.

Diesel continues to outsell Petrol with 59% (9,768) of new vehicles registered.

Band B is by far the most common tax class with 43% (7,212) of all registrations.

Only 50 registrations separates Silver (4,070) from Black (4,020) as the most popular colour on Irish roads.