Sales of new cars in Ireland have taken a hit this month.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has released figures showing that the total new car registrations for the month of June were down 10.4% (1,255) when compared to June 2017 (1,400).
Registrations for the year to date are 4.5% (87,151) down on the same period last year (91,215).
However, commercial vehicle sales grew, with sales of New Light Commercial Vehicle up 2.06% (694) on June 2017 (680) and up 5.7% (16,633) for the year so far.
New Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HGV) have seen an increase of 110% in sales for the month of June (185) compared to the same month last year (88) and are down 1.1% (1,571) year to date.
Imported used cars have shown an increase of 11.5% last month (8,142) when compared to June 2017 (7,304) while year-to-date sales are 12.8% (51,879) ahead of 2017 (46,002)
SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan said: “While June has seen a decline in new car registrations of 10.4%, registrations in this month are relatively small numbers as many consumers will have waited for a 182 registration number.
"The more relevant measure is the Year to Date figure which shows a decline of 4.5% compared to the same period in 2017."
"This is somewhat at odds with the growth in economic activity in the country but has to be seen in the context of the volume of used car imports which impact negatively on new car sales."
