January Car Sales down 1.7%

New figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that new car registrations fell by 1.7% in January with 39,019 registrations, compared to January 2016 with 39,722 registrations.

Light commercial vehicle (LCV) registrations were down 2.46% in January (6394) compared to the same month last year (6555). The top five selling makes of LCV were; Ford (1661), Volkswagen (1148), Renault (742), Toyota (621) and Peugeot (415).

Heavy goods vehicle registrations (HGV) were down 6.37% in January (456) compared to January last year (487). The top selling makes of HGV were; Volvo (169), Scania (86), Mercedes-Benz (65), Daf (42) and Renault (27).

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Hyundai was the best selling make in January, despite a drop in sales compared to last year. Toyota and Ford took 2nd and 3rd place, with Volkswagen and Nissan completing the top five.

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The Hyundai Tucson was once again the best selling model in January, with the Ford Focus, Ford Fiesta, Nissan Qashqai and Volkswagen Golf completing the top five.

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On the cost of motoring, SIMI found that the average price of a new car was 5.5% cheaper in December 2016 compared to December 2015. Meanwhile, prices of petrol (+1.9%) and diesel (+3.2%) have both risen in the last year and insurance costs were 61.5% higher than they were in 2013.

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Alan Greene, SIMI President commented: “The Motor Industry continues to be a strong contributor to employment with 40,800 people employed throughout Ireland. Last year our Industry contributed €1.5 Billion to the Exchequer in car sales alone. 2017 was always going to be a more cautious year for businesses, right across the economy, but we have seen a steady start in January and hopefully we are on track for another good year and continuation of a stable market during the rest of the year.”

For more information and statistics visit www.beepbeep.ie/stats.