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New car registrations have fallen again in June, by 14 per cent compared to the same month last year. The year-to-date totals show an overall decline in car registrations of ten per cent with just over 91,000 new cars registered so far.
Van registrations were also down, falling by 14 per cent for the year so far to 18,889 registered.
Commenting on the figures SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan said: "As we had anticipated, the first half of the year has seen a decline in registrations in all sectors. As the Industry's now turns it focus to the 172 registration period which commenced on the 1st of July, we would anticipate that sales in the second half of the year should keep us on track to reach the 132,000 total that was predicted at the start of the year."
The best selling brand so far this year was Volkswagen, followed by Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, and Nissan. The best selling models up to the end of June were the Hyundai Tucson, followed by the Nissan Qashqai, Skoda Octavia, Volkswagen Golf, and Ford Focus.
Interestingly, although June sales were down year-on-year, they did show a big spike in sales of luxury cars. The BMW 5 Series was actually the best-selling model for the month, and the BMW X1, BMW 4 Series and BMW 1 Series all made appearances in the top ten.
Commenting on the figures, Michael Rochford Managing Director of Motorcheck.ie, said: "a lot is made of the slide in new car sales, but actually both the Motor Trade and the economy seem to be in a good place despite the uncertainty that comes with Brexit. When viewed in the context of the last three years, where sustained growth of 30% plus year-on-year has brought the industry back to pre-2008 levels, a ten per cent adjustment downwards this year does not look bad at all. In addition, all car dealers also trade in used vehicles where the market is booming. More people in employment means more cars on the road and that means positive trends for the service and maintenance side of the business also. Any downturn in new vehicles is offset by the increases in these sectors".