The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has released their new car sales figures for the month of January. Already an increase of 31% has been recorded in comparison to January 2014. Their figures show that during the month of January 29,948 new cars were sold in Ireland.
SIMI are predicting that new car sales for 2015 should comfortably exceed 100,000 by the end of the year. Light commercial vehicle sales have also seen an increase of a whopping 70% while HGVs (heavy Goods Vehicles) has seen a decrease of 37%.
Economist Jim Power said at the SIMI Quarterly Motor Industry Review today that, “After a number of very difficult years for the motor trade, the strong growth in car sales reflects improving consumer confidence and spending across the country. While we have not reached the highs of 2008, consumers are showing more confidence in the market and the indications are that we will continue to inch upwards this year provided economic and political conditions remain stable.”
SIMI President, James Brooks, said: “2014 was a positive year for the Motor Industry, and we are confident that this growth will continue into 2015, and this is borne out by the increase in vehicle sales in January 2015 Our Industry is a key contributor to Government with the increase in new and used sales in 2014 collecting €965 million for the exchequer, which in turn has helped to create an additional 3,800 jobs in the Motor Industry, up 10.1%* since 2013. We hope that the improved business environment and the continued support of the Government will let the Motor Industry rebuild itself and will aid its recovery further in 2015”.
Green shoots have been showing in the Irish motor industry since last year when 96,344 new cars were sold, which was an increase of 29.6% on 2013. Overall the motor industry contributed €965 million to the Exchequer. These increases have also lead to 3,800 new jobs.
The top selling cars so far in 2015 are the Volkswagen Golf, the Ford Focus, the Toyota Corolla, the Ford Fiesta, and the Hyundai IX35.
