Recession puts the brakes on market for dream cars
Once the preserve of Russian oligarchs or Premier League footballers, the sight of Ferraris, Maseratis and Bentleys was commonplace on the highways and byways as the purring of the Celtic Tiger was replaced by the gentle roar of a V12.
But flash has been replaced by prudence, wantless spending by value-for- money. In 2008, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office, there were five cars valued at over €300,000 registered in Ireland. In 2009, there was only one car of the same value registered. It is a country-wide trend reflected across high-end car sales in the last couple of years.
In Dublin, for example, there were 760 new cars worth over €100,000 registered in 2008; in 2009 that figure was down to 85. In this range, there were 12 new Maseratis priced over €100,000 registered along with four used ones in 2008, compared to four and one, respectively in 2009.
In Limerick, there were 21 new cars over €100,000 registered in 2008. A year later, there were three cars registered in the same range. In Waterford, five cars over €100,000 were registered in 2008. In 2009, there was only one.
In Cork, four new Porsches over €100,000 were registered in 2008; there was one the next year. In Kerry, there was one new Ferrari over €100,000 registered in 2008; there were none last year.
Falling sales of specialist cars has meant price drops of approximately 33% since 2007, according to Des Cullen Cars.
