CYPRUS: Cars sales take off in April after recent slump

Sales of new and used cars recorded an increase in April after a three-month period during which sales had dropped.

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According to Cyprus Statistical Services data, car registrations in April reached 3,673, recording a 13.6%. hike following a 37.8% decline in March.

New vehicle registrations made the biggest splash, spiking 40.2% to 1503 in April from 1,072 the year before, while sales of used cars recorded an increase of just 0.5%, reaching 2170 from 2160 in April 2018.

It is believed that the increase in the sales of cars was facilitated by the implementation of recently approved legislation which sees changes in the way road tax and consumer tax on cars is calculated.

Parliament on 15 March approved legislation which introduced a new way of calculating road tax according to the amount of pollutants a car emits into the atmosphere, while the consumer tax on new cars was essentially abolished as it was brought down to almost zero.

Road tax is now calculated on the principle  of “pay as you pollute”, calculation of road tax owed is based on the ‘EURO’ emission standards introduced by the EU.

However, new car importers are cautious as May did not get off to a good start.

Mercedes sales manager Lakis Kostekoglou told Stockwatch “sales were quite satisfactory in April compared with the first three months, but May is a bit numb”.

Overall, the first four months of 2019, saw saloon passenger car registrations decrease by 11.4% to 12,629, compared with 14,256 in the same period of 2018.