New car sales in Kilkenny still stuck in second gear

New car sales in Kilkenny are still struggling in the wake of the pandemic.

New figures released by the The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) reveal a drop from the 818 car registration recorded in February to 770 for last month, an overall drop of just under 6%.

But the sales locally are still ahead of the national figures, which show car registrations for February were down 12.2% (12,031) when compared to the same month last year (13,698). Registrations year to date are down 4.6% (37,058) on the same period last year (38,838).

Light Commercials vehicles (LCV) are down 30.9% (2,292) compared to February last year (3,316) and year to date are 12.0% (7,341). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are up 7.56% (242) in comparison to February 2021 (225). Year to date HGV’s are up slightly 2.14% (574).

Used car imports for February (3,807) have seen a decrease of 33.9% on February 2021 (5,758). Year to date imports are down 37.6% (7,848) on 2021 (12,579). For the month of February 1,620 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 805 in February 2021. So far this year 4,320 new electric cars have been registered in comparison to 1,782 on the same period 2021.

Electric Vehicle and Plug-in Hybrids and Hybrids continue to increase their market share, with a combined market share now of 44%. Despite a large decrease in market share for internal combustion engine type vehicles, petrol remains dominant 27.39%, with Diesel accounting for 25.92%, Hybrid 24.23%, Electric 11.66% and Plug-in Electric Hybrid 8.01%.

Commenting on the katest figures, SIMI Director General Brian Cooke said: “New car sales are 12.2% down on February last year and 4.6% down year to date, while they remain 21.9% behind that of pre-COVID (2019) levels. Despite strong demand for new and used cars, supply continues to be a major issue, with any potential recovery unlikely to happen until the second half of 2022 at the earliest.

“Despite this challenge, the number of new electric cars continues to grow with registrations doubling for the month of February when compared with the same month last year. There are now over 50,000 Electric Vehicles (combined EV and PHEV) on Irish roads, and there is increasing consumer interest for these vehicles.

“As highlighted in the recently issued report on reducing light fleet carbon emissions, commissioned by SIMI, it is essential that our charging infrastructure keeps pace with this acceleration in the electrification of the Irish car fleet. In this context ongoing support from Government in the charging network is vital if we are to convince more consumers that an electric vehicle is a viable choice of car for their driving needs.”