Irish car market sales figures are being distorted by the practice of pre-registration, according to the MD of Ford Ireland, Eddie Murphy, writes Brian Byrne.
And he said that Ford in Ireland won't promote the practice among its dealers, because it isn't in the interest of customers.
With that, Ford joins Toyota, which also doesn't indulge in pre-registrations, in which dealers are encouraged to register cars themselves at the end of a month, so as to qualify for a sales quota bonus. The pre-registered cars are then sold at a discount the following month, to 'second' owners.
"That doesn't give any consideration to customers who had paid the full price in the earlier part of the month," Eddie Murphy noted.
The practice is also used by some distributors to artificially inflate 'sales' figures so as to achieve high placings in monthly and quarterly listings on models and brands.
The Ford boss did say that individual dealers in the brand might do some pre-registering, but Ford Ireland wouldn't be offering any incentive for them to do so.
He was speaking at the official Irish launch of the new generation Kuga (pictured above). It has gone on sale at an entry price of €33,450. Power options are 140/163hp 2.0 diesel engines, with CO2 ratings from B2-D.
