Covid puts handbrake on car sales in Kilkenny: new figures

New car sales in Kilkenny have fallen by almost a quarter in the space of just two years.

A total of 1,785 new cars were registered in the city and county in 2020, according to new figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).

This represents a 13.6% drop on the 2019 figures, when 2,066 new car sales were recorded in the city and county.

However, the 2020 figures are 24% down on just two years ago, when there were 2,345 car sales in 2018 – a drop of 560 sales.

Nationally, new car registrations to date are down 25% (88,324) on 2019 (117,109). However, there was a large spike in car sales in December 2020 (601), when it was up 168% on December 2019 (224).

New Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) registrations in 2020 decreased by 14.2% (21,732) compared to 2019 (25,336). New Heavy Commercial Vehicle registrations (HGV) saw a decrease of 22.3% (2,066) in comparison to 2019 (2,659).

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Imported Used Cars saw 79,969 registrations in 2020 a decrease of 29.8% on 2019 (113,926).

Some 4,013 new electric cars were registered in 2020, compared to 3,444 in 2019.

Commenting on the figures, SIMI Director General Brian Cooke said: “Like many other sectors, 2020 proved to be a very difficult year for the Irish Motor Industry.

“New car sales, already hampered in recent years due to Brexit, were down a further 25% due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and are now at recession levels.

“Looking to January, the key month for new car sales, the dramatic deterioration in the public health situation over the last few weeks, and the implementation of Level 5 restrictions will make it another difficult period for the sector,” Mr Cooke added.