Covid has clobbered the motor trade, with new car sales down 26pc in 2020. With dealerships closed once again the outlook for 2021 remains uncertain.
With most of us having spent the last nine months under virtual house arrest, new car sales took a hammering in 2020 - only 84,300 units were shifted, down over a quarter on the 113,300 sold in 2019. Second-hand imports fell even more sharply in 2020, down by 28pc to 78,500.
The Irish motor trade won t forget 2020 in a hurry. Since the first lockdown in March dealerships have endured repeated closures. On its own this would have been traumatic enough but it was happening at the same time as Brexit is upending the second-hand car trade - almost half of all the cars registered for the first time in 2020, 48pc, were used imports from the UK.
Tucson top of the charts in Kilkenny
Motorists’ choice: Hyundai’s SUV biggest seller in the county in 2020
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It was a challenging year for the motoring industry, but Hyundai still claimed the prize of most popular car in Kilkenny.
In a year where the coronavirus hampered the motoring industry, the Hyundai Tucson was still the top selling car in the county.
In figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) the Tucson was the most popular choice in the showroom, followed by the Ford Focus and the Toyota Corolla.
Overall new registrations were down on 2019 figures. In Kilkenny 1,785 vehicles were registered in 2020 compared to 2,066 the year previously. Nationally, the number of new cars registered across Ireland was down by 25% in 2020.
New car sales in Kerry dropped by 16% in 2020. According to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, 1,934 new cars were registered in the county last year. That’s down from 2,310 the previous year. Nationally, new car sales fell by a quarter. The number of light commercial vehicles registered in Kerry […]
Nearly 4,000 people bought new cars in Kildare during 2020
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Nearly 4,000 new cars were bought in Co Kildare during 2020, according to new figures.
A total of 3,893 vehicles were sold and registered at sales showrooms across the county.
This figure compares to 4,452 vehicles purchased during 2019 which is a decline of -12.56%.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) said overall new car registrations for 2020 finished at 88,324 or 25% down on 2019 (117,109).
New Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) registrations in 2020 saw a decrease of 14.2% (21,732) compared to 2019 (25,336). While New Heavy Commercial Vehicle registrations (HGV) saw a decrease of 22.3% (2,066) in comparison to 2019 (2,659).
Imported Used Cars saw 79,969 registrations in 2020 - a decrease of 29.8% on 2019 (113,926).
THE number of new cars registered in Limerick last year was 17% lower than in 2019, new figures have confirmed. According to the Society of the Irish Motor.