Wavering first quarter for the motor industry

April 20, 2017
Wavering first quarter for the motor industry Government revenue statistics
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The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) in association with DoneDeal has issued their first Quarterly Motor Industry Review for 2017.


The SIMI/DoneDeal Report highlights the challenging and uncertain year that the Industry has faced with new car sales down by 8% and commercial vehicle sales (LGV’s) reduced by 11% and HGV’s down 3% all reporting a decline in the first
quarter of 2017 despite the Irish economic prospects looking better than at the beginning of the year.

Car sales alone so far this year have reached 75,942 and have raised a whopping €753 Million for the Exchequer.

Jim Power Economist and author of the Review said: “Consumer behaviour remains relatively cautious. Personal expenditure on big ticket items such as cars is being undermined by the ongoing upward pressure on the price of necessities such as motor and home insurance, private rents, private health insurance and housing.

“Based on sales so far in 2017, it is possible that registrations for the full year could be 10% down on 2016. This would imply a total of around 132,000, but it has to be stressed that the market is not very predictable at the moment.”

The SIMI/DoneDeal Review outlined that the cost of motoring in 2017 which has seen an increase in petrol by 14.3% and diesel prices up by 18.7%, although Motor insurance costs have seen a reduction of 6.1% from July 2016 to March 2017 over the full year March 2016 to March 2017 motor insurance still shows an overall increase of 0.7%.

Alan Nolan SIMI commented: “Brexit continues to play a role in uncertainty. The decline in new car sales has been a nationwide trend in the first quarter of 2017. Used car imports increased by 56% while LCV imports were up 53% on the first quarter of 2016.

“Used car imports are primarily between 3 and 5 years old (49%) reflecting the shortage of second hand cars during the registration period 2009 to 2013 and the over 6 years age group (37%). While the number of imports nearly new are relatively low (9% up to 2 years old), overall the volume of imports is impacting even if indirectly on the new car market. 2017 is still shaping up to be a good year, even if down on last year’s strong Q1 performance and while the market is difficult to predict this year, the second quarter of 2017 will hopefully give us a clearer picture.”

In line with the increased activity in used cars, figures from DoneDeal, highlight an upturn in motor advertisements in 2017 with the volume of ads published in their Motor section increasing by 15.7% from the first quarter of 2016.

Cathal Cremen, Sales Director of DoneDeal’s Motor Section, said: “The first quarter of 2017 has seen goods valued at over €1.9 billion advertised in DoneDeal’s motor section, with dealer activity representing 74% of this total. This coupled with the 42% increase in dealer ads from the same period last year reflects the investment that we have been making towards securing DoneDeal as the number one website for buying and selling cars in Ireland.”
Wavering first quarter for the motor industry Motor insurance costs
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