New car sales drop as Brexit effect sees used imports accelerate

By Dan Buckley

Brexit and the associated weakness of sterling are enticing more people to import cars from the UK, leading to a drop in car sales here, new figures show.

Sales of new cars have fallen by more than 4% so far this year, with 124,809 registrations up to the end of October, while sales during October were down by more than 11%.

Official statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show the total new car registrations for the month of October were down 11.2% (1,725) when compared to October 2017 (1,943).

Registrations, year to date, are also down 4.4% (124,809) on the same period last year (130,491).

Imported used cars have shown an increase of 7.45% for the month of October 2018 (9,141) when compared to October 2017 (8,507) while, year to date, they are 8.95% (86,418) ahead of 2017 (79,320).

Commenting on the figures, Brian Cooke, SIMI director general designate, said: “It comes as no surprise that new car registrations are down again this month, in line with the trend in the market so far this year.

“While the domestic economic backdrop continues to be positive, as evidenced by the increase in commercial vehicle registrations this year, the impact of Brexit and the associated weakness of sterling has seen an increase in the volume of used imports which has been to the detriment of the new car market.”

The latest figures also reveal Volkswagen is the best-selling brand in Ireland this year, with 13,682 registrations, giving it a 10.9% share of the market, followed by Toyota with 11,978 registrations, Hyundai with 11,556, Ford with 11,230, and Nissan with 9,708.

The five top-selling car models for the year so far is the Nissan Qashqai, ahead of the Hyundai Tucson, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, and Skoda Octavia.