Irish Economy
SIMI says Irish car sales were up 31% in June; 30,000 cars sold through Scrappage Scheme
By Finfacts Team
Jul 5, 2011 - 4:05 PM

The SIMI (Society of the Irish Motor Industry) says June sales figures show that new car sales were up 31% compared to June 2010. The State-subsidised Scrappage Scheme came to an end on Thursday last seeing some 30,000 cars sold through the scheme.

Press Officer for SIMI, Suzanne Sheridan said: "The Scrappage Scheme is now over and undoubtedly it has been a huge success. €100m was generated from the scheme but the figures show that most new cars bought this year were non Scrappage cars."

11,688 Scrappage cars have been registered so far this year, 15% of total new car sales.

"Motorists are clearly availing of the great deals that are out there at the moment and Scrappage certainly brought people back into showrooms. The scheme is now over but these deals will continue."

Renault was the top selling brand under Scrappage and the Ford Fiesta was the top selling car.

The scheme was focused on low emission cars. The majority of Scrappage cars, 52%, were in the lowest emission Category (under 120g/km) saving 40,000 tons of C0₂ this year and each subsequent year. The average car scrapped has C0₂ emissions of 200g/km while the new car it is replacing has emissions of just 120g/km.

The scheme generated €100m for the government in VAT and VRT (after the government discounts).

President of SIMI, Gerry Caffrey said: “Scrappage has been the saviour for our industry. Two years ago, new car sales were 57,000 for the whole year, today that figure, for just half the year, is 77,000.

“It didn’t just benefit our industry though. The real benefit of the scheme was the 3,000 new jobs it created.”

Every job saves the government, on average €23,000 in PAYE, PRSI and Social Welfare so these 3,000 jobs represent a saving of €70m.

“The question keeps arising, what next? Many other EU countries have experienced a downturn in sales post scrappage but only 15% of new car sales here have been scrappage cars so by the end of the year we expect to see similar if not better overall sales than last year.”

“It’s important to remember, we still have a strong servicing sector and the used car market is doing well, after seeing the knock on effects of reduced asking prices thanks to Scrappage.”

“There’s no doubt that manufacturers and dealers will continue to offer the fantastic deals they’ve been offering under Scrappage for the rest of the year.”

The figures:

• 77,134 new cars sold so far this year;

• Up 14% on last year;

• Toyota is the top selling brand so far this year;

• The Ford Focus is the best selling model;

• 91% of new cars sold were in C0₂ bands A & B, the lowest emission bands, compared to 77% last year;

• 71% of new cars sold so far this year were diesel;

• Light Commercial Vehicles; vans etc are up 25%.

• 17,683 last year;

• 11,688 this year so far (the total figure is likely to be closer to 15,000 as the last 2 days of June have yet to be compiled).