Kilkenny car sales show signs of recovery after Covid crash

New car sales in Kilkenny have increased year on year by 8% for the month of February, new figures reveal.

Overall, there are positive signs for the car industry as new car sales are up 6% nationally on the same period last year.

New vehicle registration figures released by The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show there were 285 new registrations in Kilkenny in February. This compares to 264 sales recorded in January 2020. The increase is being led by a the electric and hybrid revolution which has seen an 125% increase in sales in just 12 months in Kilkenny.

There has been a huge increase in sales of hybrid cars in the county – a rise of 133.33% year-on-year. In February, 70 hybrid cars were newly sold as opposed to just 30 in February 2020. Sales of electric cars increased to nine last month compared to four in February 2021.

Nationally, new cars registrations for February are also up by 5.3% when compared to February 2020. There were 13,834 new vehicles sold last month nationwide as opposed to  13,138 a year ago. This is once again being led by electric and hybrid car sales, with 3,494 of these vehicles sold last month – 126% increase in February 2020 (1545).

There has been more than a 155% increase in electric cars nationally, where 813 were sold last month, as opposed to 319 for the same period a year ago.

Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) are down 10.9% (5,033) over the same period (5,647). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations have also decreased by 4.5% (340) in comparison to January 2020 (356).

However, used car imports have increased again to 6,824 in January, a 3.1% rise on the same period last year.

New electric car registrations increased by 10% with 980 registered in January 2021, compared to 891 for the same period last year.