The Economic Advisor

New Car Registrations Fall by Over 30 Percent For September 2009

Statistics released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) showed that during September 2009 there were 2,259 new car registrations, a drop of 34.67 per cent in comparison to September 2008′s figure of 3,458 new registrations.

The year to date number is down by as much as 63 per cent on the figure to end of September 2008 to 55,136 from 149,059.

SIMI figures also showed that the number of imported used car registrations for September also fell from 5,139 to 3,428, which is a drop of 33.29 per cent for the same month last year. For the year to September, 42,285 used car registrations were applied for, a fall of 18.71 per cent for the same period last year.

A spokesman for the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, Brian Cooke said, “We have been running at 63 per cent behind last year so 33 per cent down in September might appear to be somewhat of an improvement but this is not actually the case. The September figure needs to be viewed in the context of the sudden deterioration that occurred in September 2008, which was 47 per cent down on September 2007.

The year to date analysis shows new car sales to be still 63 per cent down on 2008. This is at a level that cannot sustain the current level of employment in the motor sector. Our industry has continued to hemorrhage jobs with the number of jobs lost now totaling more than 10,000 since January 2008.”

Car registrations continued to fall across the board, with the light commercial vehicle sector experiencing a drop of 35.05 per cent, down to 645 in September, from 993 for September 2008. Heavy vehicle registrations were also down from 2009 in September 2008 to just 78 for last month, a decrease of 62.68 per cent.

Mr Cooke called on the Government to introduce a car scrappage scheme in January 2010, with predictions of a further 8,000 to 10,000 jobs being at serious risk. He said, “A scrappage scheme is a ‘no brainer’. It benefits the consumer, the Government, the industry and most particularly thousands of employees in every town across the country.”

A recent study by economist Peter Bacon made observations that this loss of workforce would have a knock on effect with other sectors such as transport services, motor insurance services and post and communications.

Rochelle Martinez, Freelance Web Content Article Writer for three years. Some of her articles are about http://www.quinn-direct.com.