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January's car sales set to disappoint

Friday, February 01 10:56:11

New car sales for January - traditionally the most important months of the year in the industry - are expected to show a significant reduction year on year from January 2012, Gabriel Keane, CEO Windsor Motor Group said today.

He said that this goes to show that consumer confidence remains fragile, despite official reassurance that consumers are increasing their spending.

"Although the new car market across all dealerships is down significantly showing no immediate recovery, the Windsor Motor Group has enjoyed strong used car sales and an increase in volumes year on year for January. In addition to this, servicing and repairs are performing strongly across the group as customers are choosing to keep and maintain their existing motors. As a nationwide motor group, it is our understanding from our customer base that there is still a lack of consumer confidence to spend their own savings, which is contributing to these poor market figures. However, we have experienced a good demand in corporate and car hire sales," said Mr Keane.

However, he went on to say that Windsor Motor Group are bucking the trend, having recently opened a new Kia garage in Liffey Valley and increased their employee numbers by 10 in the last month.