Car sales shoot up in January

REGISTRATIONS of motor vehicles rose year on year by 18.4 per cent in January, after an increase of 17.1 per cent in December, thanks to a large cut in excise duties in November.

Total registrations amounted to 5,128 in January, up from 4,332 in January 2006.

The registrations of private saloon cars increased to 4,111 from 3,433 in January last year.
For 2006 as a whole, motor vehicle registrations had been down slightly by 0.7 per cent on the previous year.

The Charalambos Pilakoutas Group is the official distributor of the Rolls Royce, BMW, Mini, Jaguar, Land Rover and Nissan marques on the island.

Responding to the figures, sales executive and CyBC Formula 1 commentator Marios Michael said the company had sold a lot more cars since the cut in excise duty, with people “flocking like flies and the telephone ringing non-stop immediately after the new rates were announced”.

He said exact sales figures for the company were confidential but he did give a price comparison for new BMWs bought before and after the change in the law.

“A 116i retailed at £13,500 with the price now dropping to £12,400,” he explained.

“A 325ci coupe used to cost £37,500 and is now sold at £32,700, while a large capacity car like the 750i is now £77,500, down from £92,000.”

According to Demetris Charalmbous, sales executive with the Ford Motor Company, “we sold 3,020 cars last year, which is more than anybody else on the island. After the cut in excise duty, we noticed an increase in sales of 15 per cent.”
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.