IRELAND: Is the market favorable? What types of cars are in demand?

Indians Daily 📧: newsindiansdaily@gmail.com January 18, 2023 0

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Is the market favorable? What types of cars are in demand?

Whether it's waiting for a new number plate or the brand's latest model, the new year goes by without any groundbreaking offers of trade-ins to entice future car buyers.

So far for dealers, things are looking pretty good in January 2023. Motor dealers report brisk business as early orders are fulfilled. But if the past 12 months are any indication, it's been another long and difficult year for those in the motor trade and their customers. Chip patience and delivery are running late, though there has been a resurgence in the global market ravaged by Covid.

Ireland's financial sector appears muted and while prices in the wider economy are showing some signs of a slight rebound, consumer confidence will take time to recover. As a sign of the times, petrol vehicle sales declined by 7% and diesel vehicle sales by 21%, while petrol and diesel vehicles continued to account for more than half of the total. The ban on Russian diesel products in February is also predicted to play a role and there is a possibility that diesel fuel prices will rise again, so diesel cars may become less popular and people may try to offload them.

Last year, there was an 81 percent increase in sales of electric vehicles. On the other hand, sales of electric vehicles (EVs) rose by 81 percent. Electric and hybrid models make up 42 percent of the new car market. With 1,500 EVs already sold in the first two weeks of January 2023, and some dealers reporting that more than half of their pre-sales this year are electric, it's not hard to imagine the majority of new 2023 sales being electric and hybrid-powered vehicles.

With petrol and diesel sales continuing to decline, electric vehicles are definitely predicted to have a huge demand. EVs, people want, and plug-in-hybrids, want, but there is still a limited number that can be supplied due to global demand for the raw materials for them. There is now some uncertainty about whether they are likely to be cut again in the second half of the year, depending on what happens to government grants for electric cars.

Demand was mostly muted at times. Post-pandemic sales were strong in the first quarter and the year started well as people spent their accumulated savings. But then transactions stalled somewhat in the second half as consumer sentiment faded and prices rose. By the end of November, car prices were up 10% from the same month a year earlier, according to the CSO, due to more expensive components and a shift to higher-priced EVs.

Used cars were 67% more expensive at the end of September than they were in March 2020, up 20% year-on-year at the end of September. This is due to reduced supply from lower new car sales during the pandemic, lower UK imports due to Brexit and environmental tax changes, and stronger demand boosted by pandemic savings.

In fact, the situation has become so tight that two-year-old used cars are selling at full price and older cars are actually depreciating in value. Sales are likely to be similar this year as compared to last year. Supply was limited due to a global shortage of chips caused by the war in Ukraine and other supply chain challenges.

In the new car market, sales are expected to match last year, or slightly better, all things remaining equal. Dealers say the flow of new vehicles is picking up as supply chains in China and elsewhere return to balance.

If you're a person who likes new cars or your budget or whatever, you would have turned to a used, almost new used car when you waited a year, six months to a year to get a car during the pandemic. And that put pressure on that end of the market. But that's easing now. On the other hand, price pressure is likely to continue due to severe supply constraints.

The glut of sold new cars that sustained the cheap used car market for years is now obsolete. But there is a demand for such cars below 5,000 euros and this market is judged to be difficult to replace in bulk. So currently prices continue to rise and may continue to rise until the price of a car in the UK and import duties reach a level.

If you're thinking cheap without an emissions problem, you can buy a more polluting old car from €2,000. Other than that it depends on whether the future car buyers have money in their pockets or not, purchase of course.!!