Irish car sales were down by nearly a quarter for March compared to the same month last year, but a motor business leader says the unusual convergence of two bank holiday weekends in succession means not too much can be read into the figures.
Alan Nolan, president of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry said the holidays produced a month of 'significantly fewer' working days than in 2007.
Year to date sales for 2008 are recorded at 93,045 compared to 100,297 over the first three months of last year, a decrease of 7.23 percent.
Meanwhile, Ford was the top selling vehicles brand in March, when LCVs are included, gaining 13.3 percent of the market and confirming its Mondeo and Focus models as Ireland's best selling cars for the first quarter of 2008. In passenger car sales for the quarter, 4,291 units of the Focus were sold, followed by Mondeo with 4,208, Golf with 4,129, Corolla with 3,691 and Passat with 3,160.
In the March passenger car sales, Toyota was the leading brand with 3,000 units, followed by Ford with 2,603, Nissan at 2,581 and Volkswagen at 2,223. Commercial vehicle sales were down 28 percent at 4,443 units. Ford was the leading commercials brand with a 19.7 percent share (876 units), ahead of VW (575) and Toyota (418).
