New car sales up 11% in 2005
Despite a fall in new car sales from 713 in December 2004 to 603 in December 2005, year on year sales were up 11.4% from 154,136 to 171,732.
Cyril McHugh, chief executive of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, welcomed this increase saying that it reflected the buoyancy of the economy, low interest rates, an increase in the working population and the relatively low level of car ownership in Ireland compared to other EU countries.
Cyril McHugh said that while 171,732 new cars have come onto the Irish roads in 2005, it is likely that about 130,000 old cars were scrapped in the same year.
He added that while there is a lot of speculation on the impact of SSIAs on new car sales in 2006, it is too early make predictions for the year.
Nevertheless dealers are reporting a strong level of enquiries for '06 new cars and if the economy remains as buoyant, the impact of SSIAs could increase sales of new cars by a further 5% to 7% in 2006.
Light Commercial Vehicle sales in 2005 (36,844) were 22.37% up on 2004 sales (30,109) while Heavy Commercial Vehicles sales were also up by 22.5%.
