We all know that new car sales have slumped globally in the first few months of 2009 and most people believe that Ireland has been one of the worst hit countries. Indeed compared to our nearest neighbours in the UK, Ireland’s car dealers are doing badly.

Statistics up to the end of April show that 4,449 new cars were registered in Ireland in April compared to 13,363 in 2008. That is almost 67% down for the month. Year to date the figures are only slightly better with sales of 36,997 compared to 106,307 for the first quarter of 2008, just over 65% down.

In the UK April registrations stood at 133,475, a significant but far less painful 24% down on last year. Sales in the fist quarter overall in the UK were 28.5% down on 2008.  

The picture in other countries across Europe shows some considerable contrast. For example in Austria sales for the first two months of the year were only down 13%, while sales in Poland were actually up by 1%. Latvia reported early sales down by 76%, but for the biggest slump you have to look at the Icelandic economy. In the first two months of 2008, 2,467 cars were registered in Iceland, a country with less than one tenth of the population of Ireland. By contrast in the first two months of this year only 217 cars with new plates have appeared, that is a drop of 92% year on year.