THE GOVERNMENT’S scrappage scheme has resulted in 5,000 new car sales, an additional €60 million in tax and a saving of 20,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
That is according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), which also reports a 38 per cent rise in new car sales for the first four months of the year compared to the same period last year.
Director general Alan Nolan says: “It is clear that the scrappage scheme is yielding the results we had predicted last autumn.” The industry lobby group estimates an additional €60 million in VRT and VAT has been generated from new-car sales even after subtraction of scrappage refunds.
It also claims 20,000 tonnes of carbon were saved this year alone, with buyers making more environmentally responsible choices. The average new car sold in Ireland this year had emissions of 135g/km. Over the same period last year the average was 150.6g/km.
The shift towards lower emissions is also reflected in the tax bands, where 75 per cent of new cars now fall into band A or B.
Not everyone agrees the scrappage deal is a success. According to Shane Teskey of motorcheck.ie: “The majority of new car sales are concentrated into the first three months of the year and this year’s figures will be inflated by those availing of the Government scrappage scheme. Indeed our statistics show that despite the scrappage incentive, the slow-down has already begun with sales for April already dropping 38 per cent on those registered in March.”
He also says the numbers taking up scrappage are relatively low. “The latest information from Government shows the number of cars processed to be in excess of 4,500 making the uptake a relatively modest 3.75 per cent.”
According to the latest sales figures, 50,906 new cars were registered up to April 30th, an increase of 38.27 per cent on the same period last year.
Ford is the best-selling brand, followed by Toyota and Volkswagen. In the premium market, Audi is the biggest volume brand followed by Mercedes and BMW.
JANUARY TO APRIL IN FIGURES:
TOP FIVE MARQUES
Ford 6,667
Toyota 6,115
Volkswagen 5,954
Renault 4,772
Opel 3,727
FUEL TYPES (% OF SALES)
Diesel 62%
Petrol 34%
Flexifuel 3.2%
Hybrid 0.8%
Electric <0.1%
TOP FIVE MODELS
VW Golf 2,391
Ford Fiesta 2,362
Ford Focus 2,319
Nissan Qashqai 2,257
Toyota Avensis 2,148
Sources:SIMI and motorcheck.ie