The Auto Trade Journal has learned that as of now, Chevrolet is not going ahead with sales of new cars in the Republic of Ireland as was announced in the summer of last year.

Back then the decision was made to import cars in to the Republic directly as a subsidiary or division of Chevrolet UK, rather than through a private importer.

The iconic American brand announced its full model range for Ireland, specifically tailored to suit the market’s needs. Six core models were mentioned: the Spark city car, the Aveo supermini, the Cruze family hatchback, Cruze four-door saloon, Orlando seven-seat MPV and Captiva SUV.

A Station wagon variant of the Cruze was to join the line-up later, and indeed plans were also afoot to launch the revolutionary Volt extended-range electric car, the Irish motoring press were told.

The Auto Trade Journal learned yesterday, Wednesday, January 9, that Chevrolet was not now selling new cars in the Republic and this has been confirmed by dealerships.

Their managing director for UK and Ireland had pointed out at the Irish launch last year that Chevrolet was the fastest growing mainstream car brand across Europe with over half a million sales in 2011, and the Irish market wasd perfectly poised to contribute its own share to this.

He said he believed there was room to grow a globally trusted brand that offers great value and quality to customers, and that was what Chevrolet was setting out to provide. He went to great lengths to point out that they were absolutely serious about the Irish car market.

So what has changed?

The Auto Trade Journal has been informed by a well placed source that Chevrolet UK/ Europe had to re-examine new car distribution in the Irish market for now due, mainly due to not having a finance partner here for dealer stocking etc. This has been confirmed by Irish dealers.

A spokeman for Chevrolet Uk commented: “The uncertainty in the Irish financial and new car buyers market led Chevrolet to the decision to scale down operations for selling new Chevrolet cars in Ireland.”

“Chevrolet is maintaining an aftersales network in Ireland, providing Chevrolet parts, service and warranty to existing customers. Chevrolet has agreements with 10 authorised repairers in Ireland.”

The Auto Trade Journal understands that Chevrolet has been playing for time until a well publicised deal has been concluded by the parent company General Motors to buy back Ally Financial (formally GMAC up until 2006) so that it has it’s own finance division to service dealerships and car buyers worldwide, outside of North America.

This would probably solve its current finance partner issue in the Republic. Chevrolet UK currently has Santander Consumer (UK) plc as its finance partner in the UK market.

One dealer who also did not wish to be named told us that Chevrolet UK had also been surprised at how competitive the market is in the Republic.

In the meantime, Chevrolet continues to offer full aftersales support (including parts) through its 10 dealers in the Republic. All of those had transitioned from the private importer that previously brought Chevrolet cars into Ireland.

Nine of them remain in place, with one no longer a dealer. They were replaced by an aftersales only, which is effectively the operating status of all Chevrolet outlets in the Republic now.

According to the Chevrolet.ie website, the 10 current Chevrolet dealerships are:

Clonee Motor Centre – Clonee, Co. Meath.
Cooney Motors – Boyle, Co Roscommon. (Service dealer only)
FM Autocentre – Carlow
Hinchy’s Garage – Knocklong, Co. Limerick
Randles Brothers- Tralee, Co. Kerry.
Waterford Motor Village – Waterford City.
Windsor Airside – Airside – Swords, Co. Dublin.
Windsor Deansgrange – Deansgrange, Co. Dublin.
Windsor Bray – Bray, Co Wicklow.
Windsor Galway – Galway City.

As all of the Irish dealers appointed last year held other franchises, none are currently without other new car marques to offer.

Chevrolet UK also has three main dealerships in Northern Ireland offering new cars and aftersales. They are Eakin Bros in Derry, Pat Kirk Limited in Omagh and SERE in Belfast.

At a Detroit Motor Show event yesterday, close to where it was founded 101 years ago, Chevrolet reminded everyone that it was the world’s fastest-growing major automotive brand.

And that it also continues to expand its global operations and is aligning its engineering, design and retail operations behind a single vision and communications platform.

This plan has obviously been put on hold as far as the Republic of Ireland is concerned. For now it will not be one of the 140 markets worldwide that you can buy the new Chevrolet car you want.

But don’t rule this out going forward. Since the launch of the Cruze mid-size saloon, which is the brand’s first truly global vehicle in 2009, Chevrolet sales have grown about 38 per cent.

And with over 20 vehicle launches globally in 2013, I think we will hear a lot more about Chevrolet going forward. Chevrolet’s new global “Find New Roads’ programme will eventually find a home here too!