THE MOTOR industry has called on the Government to put a rescue package in place after figures released yesterday showed the number of new car registrations plummeted last year.
In a further sign of the downturn in the industry, two Dublin-based car dealerships collapsed yesterday, with the loss of about 55 jobs at three separate premises.
Winfield Motor Group, which employs 30 staff in Sandymount and Dún Laoghaire, yesterday appointed a receiver. Peugeot dealership Westland Motors based at Liffey Valley, and with a service division at Cherry Orchard, is also to wind up with the loss of about 28 jobs, the company confirmed yesterday.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry, which represents dealers in the Republic, said 3,000 jobs had been lost in the industry in the last four months of 2008 and a further 3,000 jobs were “hanging by a thread” this year.
The society’s director general, Alan Nolan, said the underlying trend at the end of 2008 and this year shows a fall of 50 per cent in new car sales.
“Within a couple of days, another 60 or 70 people will be unemployed,” Mr Nolan added.
Yesterday’s figures, released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), show that the number of new cars registered last year fell by 19 per cent, but the number of second-hand cars imported into Ireland rose by 2.3 per cent from 58,719 in 2007 to 60,091.
The majority of imports into Ireland come from the United Kingdom, with a weakened sterling making it more attractive for Irish buyers to source second-hand cars there.
A total of 146,470 new cars were registered in 2008 compared with 180,754 in 2007. The number of new goods vehicles fell from 46,043 to 31,459 or by 31.7 per cent in 2008, further illustrating the effect of the recession on the motor industry.
There has been a 66 per cent drop in registrations in the first 20 days of the year, compared to the same period in 2008. Several premium brands recorded drops of over 90 per cent and tax revenue on car sales could be down by over €1 billion this year.
The highest number of new registrations in 2008 were Toyotas, followed by Ford, Volkswagen, Opel and Nissan. More than 20,000 new Toyota cars were registered last year, compared with nearly 16,000 Volkswagens. Some 300 Alfa Romeos, 5,677 BMWs and 4,121 Mercedes Benz were also registered in the same period.
“I think the worrying underlying trend is sort of lost in that the picture is that for each month-on-month for December, November, October, September, we’re running 50 per cent down on the previous year,” Mr Nolan told The Irish Times.
“The 19 per cent figure for the year is . . . inflated by the fact that January last year was pre-recession and it was the best January ever. We are running at the moment one-third of the total number of registrations last year, so it is continuing into 2009.”
Mr Nolan said that during the last three to four months of 2008 3,000 people had lost their jobs in the motor industry.
“To put that in context, that’s a factory closing down. It is an issue when you see an industry making those sorts of cutbacks facing into what should be the peak selling time.
“The reality is there is probably an equivalent number whose jobs are hanging by a thread. We have been pressing the case with Government that along with motor industries in every other European country there is a need to look at a rescue package, there is a need to protect employment and the State’s revenue because it is one of the major generators of State revenue at a time when they need it,” he added.
Mr Nolan said the society would call on the Government on Monday to put in place a number of measures to help the industry, including a scrappage scheme for older cars.
“Scrappage is almost a no brainer. You only pay out something out of revenue when extra cars are sold to people who wouldn’t have bought them.
“It generates business in our sector, it protects employment and it generates extra revenue for the State and it has all the safety and environmental benefits as well.”
The group is also expected to seek changes to VAT and road tax.
