Business Journalist
2020 was a challenging year for the car market and this year, so far, looks like it may be shaping up to follow suit.
According to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, new car sales were down 25% on 2019 levels last year bringing the market to recession era levels.
January is traditionally the bumper month for car sales in any year as prospective buyers seek out the new updated registration to go with their shiny piece of metal.
This year, that was offset by the re-imposition of level 5 restrictions which contributed to car sales in the month being down almost 20% on January 2020.
New car sales continue to fall across most of the Shannonside region shannonside.ie - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from shannonside.ie Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry says in January 550 new cars were registered in Kerry.
That’s down from 707 during the same month last year.
Nationally, new car registrations in January were down almost 18% or almost 25,200.
Updated / Monday, 1 Feb 2021
12:47
SIMI says that new cars registrations for January are down 17.8% when compared to the same month in 2020
New cars registrations for January are down 17.8% when compared to the same month last year, the latest figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show.
The latest SIMI figures show that new car registrations fell to 25,191 in January of this year from 30,650 in January 2020.
According to SIMI, light commercial vehicles sales are down 10.9% to 5,033 from 5,647 last year, while HGV (heavy goods vehicle) registrations also showed a decrease of 4.5% with sales down to 340 compared to 356 in the first month of 2020.