The Society of the Irish Motor Industry has confirmed that new car registrations for April sank by 96.1% compared to the same time last year.
SIMI said that just 344 cars were sold last month compared to 8,904 in April 2019 as car showrooms remain closed since the middle of March due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
Registrations for the year so far are down 30.7% on the same time last year.
Today's figures also show that the commercial vehicle sector is feeling the impact of closures, with sales of Light Commercials vehicles (LCV) collapsing by 87.3%, while HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are down 67.8%.
Meanwhile, used car imports for April saw a huge decrease of 97.8% on April 2019 while imports so far this year are down 50.5% on 2019.
SIMI said that the top five selling car brands so far this year are Toyota, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda and Ford.
Meanwhile, the five top models so far this year are the Toyota Corolla, Hyundai's Tucson, Volkswagen's Tiguan, Ford's Focus and the Skoda Octavia.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, said that like many other sectors of the economy, Covid-19 is having a devastating impact on the Irish motor industry.
He said that while the short-term outlook for the Irish economy is bleak, once the health situation allows the motor industry is ready to get back to work.
He said the size of dealerships and the average footfall, for both sales and servicing, lends itself to social distancing.
Mr Cooke also said that with the July registration period approaching, the motor industry will be well placed to help start activity in the Irish economy.
"This has the potential to protect the nearly 50,000 people in employment in the sector, increasing Government Revenues, improving the safety of the cars on Irish roads, while also improving Ireland's environmental performance by replacing old cars with new or newer cars," he said.
In this context, continuation of the current supports and cash flow benefits from Revenue will be important, while additional measures such as the cancelling of rates bills, and reductions in VAT and VRT would be very helpful as would the immediate re-opening of NCT and commercial vehicle test centres," he added.
