New car sales are back at pre-crash levels according to media reports. Some 64,000 cars were registered in the first three months of the year in Ireland – a near 30 per cent jump in sales.
Funnily enough though, new car sales are sounding alarm bells elsewhere in Europe.
In Greece last month, car sales jumped by 47 per cent, the 20th consecutive month of rises there. This leap is seen as evidence of classic case of a country experiencing bank run!
Motor vehicles are the asset of choice for worried consumers, making sales figures a decent proxy for the financial turmoil suffered by banks. One wonders is there an element of the same in the figures from Ireland.
Ironically for Greece, the German car industry is one of the main beneficiaries of the Greek situation, as the country is one of the biggest markets for its cars anywhere in Europe.
