New car registrations in county Westmeath for July have experienced a decrease 7.21 percent on the same period last year. There were 1,622 new registrations compared to 1,748 in July 2017. This is according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI ) who issued the official 182 new vehicle registration figures for the month along with their second quarterly motor industry review of 2018.
Car sales figures for the month of July show that 182 registrations have fallen 2.75 percent (26,944 ) compared to July 2017 (27,707 ). Light commercial vehicles have increased by 12.4 percent (4,433 ) compared to July last year (3,944 ), while heavy goods vehicle registrations were also up 23.28 percent (376 ) in comparison to July 2017 (305 ).
The report highlights that while Ireland’s economic indicators continue to evolve in a positive manner, pointing towards an expanding economy, as consumer spending continues to improve at a steady rate, the depreciation in the value of sterling since the end of 2015 has made life more difficult for the Irish motor trade, with new car sales been displaced by used imports from the UK.
Used car imports have increased by 11.7 percent year to date, aided by the weakness in sterling, as the motor industry continues to experience significant uncertainty, with monthly declines in new car registrations figures, reflecting the substantial impact of Brexit.
Other noticeable trends within the market place show that the average price of a new car in June 2018 was 1.9 percent lower than a year earlier, while car buyers are paying 4.1 percent more for higher specifications cars. The recent move away from diesel towards petrol has result in the average C02 emissions from new car sales seeing a slight increase.
While average motor insurance costs in the year to June declining 11.5 percent, and motor insurance costs are down 20.7 percent since July 2016. Fuel prices have seen an increase with petrol prices up 9.7 percent, while diesel prices are up 12.2 percent on June 2017.
