New Car Registrations Surpass Total For 2015 Despite Slowdown

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) today issued the official 162 car sales figures for the month of July.  New car registrations are up + 19% (131,264) ahead on the same period last year (109,931). The total to the end of July this year has already surpassed the total number of new cars registered for the whole of 2015 (124,947).  The month of July saw 162 registrations increase by 8% (29,931) compared to July 2015 (27,594).

The Commercial Vehicles sector continues to perform well with Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) up 15% (4,341) on the same month last year (3,760) and currently, year to date, are up 23% (22,746) overall. While Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) registrations, are also up 37% for the month of July (397) 2016 when compared to July last year (290), with registrations up 41% year to date.

Commenting on the figurers SIMI Director General Alan Nolan said “The motor industry performed strongly in the first half of 2016, with increased activity in both car and commercial vehicle sales. This growth has continued into July, although at a noticeably slower rate than the first two quarters, perhaps due to a combination of external factors such as Brexit and the fact that the extremely high growth rates of recent years must naturally slow as we get closer to a more normal market following a period of catch up.

It is important however for both the Industry and the Economy that, new vehicle sales continue to be at sustainable levels, which for new cars is in the region of 150,000 to 160,000, based on the current population and the age of the national car fleet. A new car market in the region of 150,000 delivers over €1Billion in tax revenues, supports the employment of more than 40,000 in the Motor Industry, and assists in reducing our CO²emissions from transport by tens of thousands of tonnes.

In this context, we would encourage a Budget strategy focused on building consumer confidence and improving the business environment, particularly with all recent economic forecasts for Ireland anticipating lower growth rates than had been previously expected for the remainder of this year and for 2017”.