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.