The new car buying season gets into full swing tomorrow, with a general expectation that 2004 will be stronger for car sales.
Most distributors are looking to 145,000-150,000 sales in 2004. And they have been carefully doing their sums to make sure they don't get caught short, as many did in 2002, or are left with fields of unsold wheeled metal, as happened in 2001.
However, matching what customers want and what they can have is sometimes outside their control. And so, for the first couple of months of this year, there may be difficulties for some Ford, Mazda, Volkswagen and Mercedes model supply.
January visitors to showrooms who haven't pre-ordered early could have to wait up to six weeks for certain versions of the popular Mondeo, for instance. "It has just been upgraded," says Ford dealer Peter Casey of Roscommon by way of explanation.
Mazda fans hoping to get a saloon version of the new Mazda3 early on are also going to be disappointed, as production of that version in right-hand-drive form has been delayed because of better-than-expected demand across Europe for the new car. "And there will not be a diesel until the autumn," adds Mark Ranger of the Ray O'Brien Motor Group in Co Kildare. "There's also at least an 8-month delay for the RX-8 rotary-engined sports car, with many dealers having already sold their allocations for 2004."
A question mark hangs over adequate availability of the new Golf following production snags. Chief executive Bernd Pischetsrieder blamed "technical problems in production" - relating to the building of chassis, doors and windows - for the situation that has forced the company to revise downward its launch period figures. The car goes on sale in Ireland this month.
Volkswagen dealer Al Hayes of Portumna also warns that there could be up to a 12-week wait for a Passat if it is for an off-standard version. "All Passats come with climate control now, but somebody who wants a sun-roof instead will have to wait."
There's a two-month delay on diesel models of the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. Dealers Tony Kelly Cars in Letterkenny says there's a waiting period of up to six weeks for versions of the C-Class other than the 180 entry version. The E-Class has an eight-week delivery time for diesels, and about half that for petrol versions.
Whatever about waiting for the cars themselves, the once-painful process of registering them is now over thanks to the on-line service operated by Revenue. "Dealers simply use the internet to put in the details and the car is registered automatically and a registration number issued," says Cyril McHugh of the Society for the Irish Motor Industry.