New car sales fell by over 50 per cent last month compared with November 1997, although car sales for the year to date are up. By the end of November 1998, 143,446 new cars had been registered, an 11 per cent increase on the 129,125 bought over the same period of 1997.
In the final months of last year there was a huge last-minute rush to avail of the scrappage scheme, which explains the dramatic decline in November registrations. Opel led the November market with 704 new cars sold, followed by Fiat with 504 and Toyota with 330.
For the first 11 months, Toyota is market leader with 16,383 registrations, or 11.42 per cent. Ford closely follows with 16,228 or 11.31 per cent and Opel is in third position, with 15,823 or 11.03 per cent.