The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI ) last week issued the official 171 car sales figures for January along with presenting its final SIMI/DoneDeal Quarterly Motor Industry Review of 2016. The report showed that car sales in Mayo were up 2.7 per cent in January 2017 compared with figures from January 2016. There were 816 new car registrations in the county in the first month of this year compared to 794 last January.
Car sales figures nationally for the month of January show that 171 registrations are down by 1.7 per cent (39,019 ) compared to January 2016 (39,722 ). Light commercials are currently down 2.4 per cent (6,394 ) compared to January last year (6,555 ), while HGV (heavy goods vehicle ) registrations are down 6.3 per cent (456 ) for January in comparison to the same time last year (487 ).
Jim Power, economist and author of the review, said; “Looking ahead to 2017, while the outlook for car sales is a bit more difficult to predict than last year, the projected growth in personal disposable incomes and the availability of credit provide solid support for car sales. However, the impact of Brexit and the increased volume in imported used cars are other issues that may impact on new car sales this year. Overall, though, numbers should be fairly close to last year with perhaps a slight decline of around three per cent in new car sales in 2017, which would imply new car sales of around €142,000.”
