Imports up on same month last year

January’s import figures show a decrease against December 2016, but healthy increases when compared to the same month last year. There were 10,708 used passenger vehicles imported. This was 12.5 per cent down on December but 9.8 per cent up on January 2016, when 9,748 entered the country. New cars were similar compared to December, with numbers being down 13.5 per cent, but up massively on January 2016, when only 6,647 new passenger vehicles entered. Last month, 8,496 new cars came in, an increase of 27.8 per cent The vast majority of used imports continue to arrive from Japan, but that country’s market share is down two per cent on last year’s 93.7 per cent, with a year-to-date market share of 91.7 per cent. Australia and the UK make up the top three with 3.6 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively, both up on their market share figures for 2016.