Car dealers await new year surge as sales fall

NEW cars licensed in Ireland last month fell 7% while new goods vehicles licensed plunged close to 15%, according to figures just released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Wed, 19 Dec, 2007 - 00:00

Evelyn Ring

There were 2,858 new private cars licensed last month, compared with 3,073 in November 2006.

The number of new goods vehicles licensed in November 2007 was 2,144, compared with 2,511 in the corresponding month last year. The total number of all new vehicles licensed last month was 5,873, compared with 6,619 during November 2006 — a decrease of about 11%.

Of the new vehicles licensed last month, 11 were hybrid petrol and electric powered while 40 were fuelled by ethanol.

The highest number of new private cars last month classified by make was Toyota (361) followed by Ford (338), Volkswagen (297), Nissan (295), Opel (195) and Hyundai (127).

The figures also show that there was a increase of a little more than 9% in the number of second-hand car sales between January to November, compared with the corresponding period last year.

Chief executive of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, Cyril McHugh, was not worried about the CSO statistics as the society was expecting new car sales this year to increase 4.5% compared with 2006.

“That would make this year the second best for new car sales,” he said.

He said the best year was in 2000, when 230,000 cars were sold. That year people were celebrating the millennium by having a “00” registered car. Mandatory car testing was also introduced.

Mr McHugh said the society was expecting a busy January when motor dealers experienced a surge in new car sales. “The message from our members is that most people have weighed up the pros and cons and are going ahead with their plans to purchase a new car next month.”

Mr McHugh said the society was also expecting a sales boost in July when the price of smaller cars will fall as a result of changes in vehicle registration tax based on emissions.

Between January and November this year 179,568 new private cars were licensed, compared with 171,764 over the corresponding period last year and 164,136 in 2005.

Second-hand car sales increased to 55,335 between January and November this year, compared with 50,649 over the corresponding period in 2006 and 34,988 in 2005.