Figures released by the Central Statistics Office, have shown that as Ireland’s economy slowed down over the past year, so did its flamboyant drivers thirst for expensive motors. Ultra expensive supercars became a more common sight as the Celtic tiger roared, but now it seems that the flash has been replaced by the frugal and luxury car sales have crashed.

In Dublin alone, 760 new cars worth over €100,000 were registered in 2008, but this figure dropped to just 85 in 2009.  Nationally at the very top of the market, 2008 saw five cars registered valued at over €300,000, while only one was registered in 2009.

Reports for this sector on progress in 2010 are not optimistic. It seems that despite dramatic price reductions on both new and used luxury cars, big value buyers are hanging on to whatever money they have.