NORTHERN Ireland is already in the slow lane for new car sales just weeks into 2016.
Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal that car registrations in January were 2.6 per cent down on the same month the year before.
That came on the back of overall sales in the north dropping back in 2015 after three years of consecutive growth, despite overall UK registrations revving to an all-time high.
And because January is traditionally a busy month for showrooms, the numbers underline concerns that consumers are still being cautious despite the cost of filling up the fuel tank is about a third less than it was a year ago.
There were 6,189 new cars sold during the month, down from 6,356 a year ago.
By contrast, sales in the UK as a whole reached an 11-year high for January as a total of 169,678 new cars were registered - up 2.9 per cent compared with January 2015.
SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: "January's solid performance puts the new car sector in a good position to start the year.
"Providing consumer confidence remains strong, we expect a more stable 12 months ahead, broadly similar to 2015 which was, of course, a record year."
That trend, however, isn't reflected in Northern Ireland, where sales were flat in 2015 compared to an overall uplift of 6.3 per cent across other regions in the UK.
And welfare changes being introduced by the British government in April may compound the situation, with around 14,000 disabled people who rely on a specialist motoring allowance likely to have their cars taken away from them.
They are among 650,000 people in the UK currently using the Motability Scheme, which allows disabled people to lease a new car, scooter or powered wheelchair using their government-funded mobility allowance.
But thousands of such drivers are due to be reassessed for this support and could lose their motability allowance,which will impact heavily on the Northern Ireland market, where a quarter of all new cars are currently bought through the Motability Scheme.
Top-selling models in Northern Ireland in January were:
1 Ford Fiesta
2 Volkswagen Golf
3 Volkswagen Polo
4 Hyundai Tucson
5 Ford Focus
6 Ford Kuga
7 Renault Captur
8 Vauxhall Mokka
9 Nissan Qashqai
10 Vauxhall Astra
