Official statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that new car registrations for the month of November at 748 were down 192 cars (20%) compared to November 2015 (940) while total new car sales are up 17% (146,175) ahead on the same period last year (124,460).

Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) have seen an increase of 8% (667) when compared to November 2015 (620) and are currently up 19% (28,001) year to date.

Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) registrations, are up 33% year to date (2,844) but have declined 9% for the month of November (71) 2016 compared to the same month last year (78).

Alan Nolan, Director General, SIMI: “2016 has seen the highest levels in new vehicle registrations since 2008, even with the challenges of Brexit in mid-year and the slowing down in the last couple of months. Overall it has been a good year for our Industry and all indications look that registration numbers are on track to deliver in the region of 147,000 this year as predicted.”

As the Industry looks forward to next year and the key January sales period the outlook remains strong for another good year in 2017.

“Jim Power Economist and author of the SIMI/DoneDeal Quarter 3 Review has commented that while the outlook for the economy is a bit more uncertain in the wake of Brexit, looking ahead to 2017 new car sales should have a similar outturn to 2016.”

New Car Registrations by County Year to Date

County

2016 Units

2015 Units

% Change

2016 % Share

2015 % Share

Carlow

1756

1468

19.62%

1.2%

1.18%

Cavan

1603

1388

15.49%

1.1%

1.12%

Clare

3147

2660

18.31%

2.15%

2.14%

Cork

18793

15250

23.23%

12.86%

12.25%

Donegal

3520

2981

18.08%

2.41%

2.4%

Dublin

57938

50602

14.5%

39.64%

40.66%

Galway

5828

5082

14.68%

3.99%

4.08%

Kerry

3228

2691

19.96%

2.21%

2.16%

Kildare

6037

5086

18.7%

4.13%

4.09%

Kilkenny

2820

2359

19.54%

1.93%

1.9%

Laois

1773

1463

21.19%

1.21%

1.18%

Leitrim

633

566

11.84%

0.43%

0.45%

Limerick

5198

4332

19.99%

3.56%

3.48%

Longford

726

635

14.33%

0.5%

0.51%

Louth

3149

2767

13.81%

2.15%

2.22%

Mayo

2814

2406

16.96%

1.93%

1.93%

Meath

4645

3731

24.5%

3.18%

3%

Monaghan

1235

1064

16.07%

0.84%

0.85%

Offaly

1880

1537

22.32%

1.29%

1.23%

Roscommon

1418

1083

30.93%

0.97%

0.87%

Sligo

1318

1126

17.05%

0.9%

0.9%

Tipperary

4137

3523

17.43%

2.83%

2.83%

Waterford

3684

2990

23.21%

2.52%

2.4%

Westmeath

2204

1917

14.97%

1.51%

1.54%

Wexford

3478

2955

17.7%

2.38%

2.37%

Wicklow

3213

2798

14.83%

2.2%

2.25%