Car sales for key month of January seem to have completely bucked the downward economic trend, recording 5 per cent growth overall, with some dealers reporting sales increases of up to 13 per cent on last year. Michael McAleer.
While few believe such growth levels will continue for the rest of the year, it certainly suggests changes to Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) introduced by the Minsiter for Finance in the last budget have had little impact on sales.
Ford tops the January car sales table with 14.1 per cent, its highest market share in years, and comes as the marque begins its centenary celebrations.
A total of 32,787 cars were sold last month, an increase of 5 per cent on January 2002.
If this growth were to continue throughout the year it would see car sales figures at the end of year top 164,000, up from 156,115 last year.
The car sales league table shows Ford in the lead, closely followed by Nissan and Volkswagen. Last year's overall winner, Toyota, is in third place.
Meanwhile, Volvo has joined Ford and Lexus in announcing a freeze on prices of its passenger cars over 1,901cc. These vehicles fell into the higher band of VRT after the budget, but Volvo is to hold prices at pre-budget levels for the first months of the year.