Dealers in Galway are continuing to see a new car sales boom, with more buyers so far this year in the city and county than for all of last year.
Figures released this week show that up until the end of July, there were 5,210 new passenger vehicles (cars, jeeps and people carriers) sold in Galway city and county.
That’s up 2.1% from the 5,103 sold here in the full twelve months of 2015.
The motor sales industry believes the growth in sales is slowing down, possible as a result of the UK referendum vote to exit the European Union.
Alan Nolan, Director General of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry said: “The motor industry performed strongly in the first half of 2016, with increased activity in both car and commercial vehicle sales.
“This growth has continued into July, although at a noticeably slower rate than the first two quarters, perhaps due to a combination of external factors such as Brexit and the fact that the extremely high growth rates of recent years must naturally slow as we get closer to a more normal market following a period of catch up,” said Mr Nolan.
Statistics compiled for the Galway City Tribune by car history checking website Motorcheck.ie, show the most popular vehicle in Galway so far this year is the Hyundai Tucson (266 units sold).
The Tucson is closely followed by the Toyota Corolla (222 sold); Nissan Qashqai (182); Skoda Octavia (179); Ford Focus (158); Toyota Yaris (153); VW Golf (152); Toyota Rav-4 (142); Toyota Auris (126) and VW Passat (120).
Around three-quarters of the passenger vehicles (3,585) sold so far this year have diesel engines.
The majority of cost and environmentally-conscious buyers (77%) also opted for cars with emissions in the lowest CO2 band, where yearly motor tax varies from €120 to €200.
One vehicle purchased was in the ‘F’ emissions bracket, which comes with a yearly motor tax of €1,200.
New light commercial vehicles – the likes of the Ford Transit and Transit Connect, VW Caddy and Renault Traffic – are also selling well.
So far this year, 1,015 have been sold in Galway, compared to 1,072 for the 12 months of 2015.
There were 75 heavy commercial vehicles sold in the same period – articulated and rigid trucks, as well as coaches – compared to 112 last year.
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