April a good month for car sales

Official statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that the total new car registrations for April were up 3.33% (8,102) when compared to April 2017 (7,841).
However, new cars registrations year to date remain down 4.68% (79,897) on the same period last year (83,823).
New Light Commercial Vehicle registrations (LCV) were up 6.51% (1,800) on April 2017 (1,690), and year to date are up 5.39% (14,323).
Imports increase
New Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCV) are up 4.74% for April (243) compared to the same month last year (232) and are down 8.31% (1,158) year to date.
Imported used cars have increased 19.31% for April 2018 (8,649) when compared to April 2017 (7,249) and year to date are 11.74% (34,763) ahead of 2017 (31,111).
SIMI Deputy Director General, Brian Cooke said April’s registration statistics were broadly in line with expectations.
Increases
“The slight increases in all sectors can be attributed somewhat to the extra working days in April 2018 compared to last year,” he added. “Brexit continues to impact on business, as evidenced by the continued strong levels of used imports from the UK.”
Total new car registrations are projected to reach around 120,000 by the end of the year, a decline of 8.6% on 2017.