New car sales in Kerry are down 83% from May last year according to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).
Retailer’s showrooms remained closed until May 18th as a result of COVID-19, impacting heavily on sales.
Nationally, registrations for the year are down 35% or almost 52,000 on the same period last year.
In Kerry, 15 new passenger cars were registered during May, down from 90 in the same month last year, an 83% drop.
In total so far this year, there’s been a 26% decrease in the number of new cars being registered in Kerry at 1,169, according to the SIMI.
New diesel car sales have dropped 33% to 563, and petrol registrations have also fallen 31% to 411 as of the end of May.
142 petrol electric vehicles have been registered so far this year in Kerry, up 36 on the same time last year; there are 30 new electric cars, up one, and 19 petrol/plug-in electric hybrids, up nine on last year.
There have also been four diesel/electric cars registered in the county so far this year.
Light commercial vehicle registrations in Kerry have fallen 20% so far this year to 335; an additional 14 were registered during May, compared to 41 during the same month last year.
Heavy commercial vehicle registrations are down 45% on the same time last year at 24; just two were registered in Kerry during May this year, compared to nine last year.