Busy month expected for motor dealers

This week saw the first day of the new '142' registration plate, which means a new registration period for new car sales. Some 4,000 new cars are expected to be sold in the first week of the new 142 registration. The 141 new car registration period that finished at the end of June was up 12,451 cars (+23 per cent ) on the first six months of 2013. The motor industry will be watching the early July registrations very closely and there is a good deal of confidence that the numbers will remain ahead of last year’s for the second half of the year as well. The industry is anticipating that this may well be the best July, for new car sales, since 2008. Last year, the first year of the dual registration plate, saw almost 12,000 cars sold in July alone, 18 per cent of the total cars sold in 2013. Car sales in June, which were expected to be slow in advance of the 142 plate held steady at 1,689, an increase of one per cent on June 2013. So far this year 65,715 cars have been sold, up by 23 per cent on last year. Alan Nolan, director general of SIMI speaking on Tuesday said: "While it's only the first day of the new '142' sales period, dealers are expecting a busy month. Although we are very well aware of the fragility of the recovery in the sector, the motor industry is in a better position than last year, consumer finance is more readily available, retail consumers are returning to the market, and there are strong offers from all brands for the July plate.