Ireland 6-Month New-Car Sales Reflect Battered Economy
An industry spokesman says new-car deliveries for all of this year “will be very close” to the 77,079 units sold through the first six months of 2011.
With Ireland’s economy in precarious shape, new-car sales plunged 42% year-on-year in June to just 6,370 units and the industry sees little likelihood of recovery this year.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry says the latest results left deliveries for the first six months down 13.5% to 66,657 units.
Light-commercial-vehicle sales rose 5.0% to 863 units in June for a 6-month total down 4.6% to 7,789.
“With half the year gone and sales down by 10,000 units, business is extremely fragile and levels of activity are set to reduce for the rest of the year, so protecting jobs will be a key challenge for the sector in the months ahead,” SIMI Director General Alan Nolan says in a statement.
“The figures for the month of June show a huge drop; down 42%, but this needs to be seen in context. June last year was the final month of scrappage, which saw 4,119 cars sold under the (government cash-for-clunkers) scheme, so the year-to-date figure, showing a fall of 13.5%, is more relevant here.”
The Irish government is studying whether to raise the road tax and vehicle-registration tax. But, says Nolan, “We have to caution that any negative changes in such a low market will have a direct impact on employment.
“It's important that jobs are protected, and measures to stimulate growth will deliver more for the Exchequer than increasing the burden of taxation.”
Nolan says this time last year, 77,079 new cars had been sold.
“This is likely to be very close to the overall total for the entire 12 months of this year,” he says. “It is crucial both for state revenues and for employment that the sector does not continue to contract next year.”
Toyota was Ireland’s market leader after six months with sales down 17.8% to 8,498 units. Volkswagen deliveries dropped 11.8% to 8,253, ahead of Ford, off 21.6% to 7,257.
The Ford Focus was Ireland’s top-selling model through the year’s first half, down 11.0% to 3,255 units, ahead of the Nissan Qashqai, up 25.4% to 2,970, and VW Golf, down 19.6% to 2,779.
Some 74% of new cars sold in the first half were diesel-powered, up from 70.6% prior-year.
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