A management consultant and advisor to the motor industry has warned that if current sales figures continue, up to 300 motor dealerships will close with a loss of up to 20,000 jobs over the coming months.
Pearce Flannery of consultancy group Pragmatica warned that the situation in the automotive sector is untenable given the radical drop in the sale of new cars.
'The Irish motor market is currently operating with a 68% decrease in sales and is facing unprecedented competition in the form of used imports. The industry is being decimated and will implode if the current situation continues.'
Mr Flannery was presenting the keynote address at the Institutes of the Motor Industry's (IMI) inaugural conference.
Repeated submissions have been made to Government to introduce such initiatives as an environmentally driven scrappage scheme, he said. That kind of scheme could stimulate the industry and boost exchequer coffers in addition to providing immense consumer and commercial benefits.
€500m in tax revenue could be collected, Mr Flannery estimated.
