Ireland's new car sales down by over 11 pct in first quarter
Xinhua, April 7, 2017 Adjust font size:
The number of new cars licensed in Ireland fell by 11.1 percent in the first quarter this year compared to the same period last year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.
The CSO figures showed that 60,753 new private cars were licensed in the first quarter this year, down 11.1 percent from the 68,375 cars sold in the first quarter of 2016.
In March 2017, 17,180 new private cars were licensed for the first time, a decrease of 14.5 percent compared with March 2016, the CSO said.
In the first quarter, Toyota was the most popular maker of new private cars licensed followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Ford and Nissan. Together these five makers represent half of all new private cars licensed in the first quarter.
In March 2017, the five most popular carmakers were Volkswagen, Nissan, Hyundai, Ford and Toyota.
On the outlook for car sales this year, economists here say the outlook for car sales is a bit more difficult to predict than last year.
They say the impact of Brexit and the increased volume in imported used cars are 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 3 percent in new car sales in 2017, which would imply new car sales of around 142,000," said Irish economist Jim Power. Enditem