‘Political and economic uncertainly’ driving down new car sales in Kilkenny

New car sales in Kilkenny have dropped by more than 5% year-on-year, new figures reveal.

A total of 933 new vehicles were sold in the county in February, according to statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) today.

This is a drop on the 983 sales of new cars recorded in Kilkenny in February last year.

Nationally, new car registrations for February were down 7.7% (13,915) when compared to the same period last year (15,069).

Registrations year to date are also down 4.9% (45,096) on February 2019 (47,439).

Light Commercials vehicles (LCV) are down 6.9% (2,294) compared to February last year (2,465) and year to date are down 0.8% (7,946).

HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are up 14.5% (300) in comparison to February 2019 (262). Year to date HGV’s are up 11.04% (684).

Used car imports for February (6,196) have seen a decrease of 30.1% on February 2019 (8,859). Year to date imports are down 28.2% (12,818) on 2019 (17,862).

Last month 401 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 325 for the February 2019, an increase of 23.38%.

So far this year 1,294 new electric cars were registered in comparison to 1,124 on the same period in 2019, an increase of 15.12%. Both Hybrid and plug in Hybrid continue to increase their market share.

Commenting on the figures, SIMI Director General Brian Cooke said: “New car sales continue to disappoint with February’s registrations showing further deterioration since January.

“Political and economic uncertainty is depressing consumer confidence and we now have the added problem of the coronavirus, which may disrupt new hire drive registrations for the tourist season in March and April.”