Fiat Ireland give cautious welcome to proposed number plate changes

Fiat Group Automobiles Ireland (FGAI) has cautiously welcomed proposed changes to the number plate system, as exclusively revealed by AutoTrade.ie.

AutoTrade.ie reported last Thursday that the “13” prefix will be replaced by “131” for the January-June period and “132” for the July-December period.

FGAI says the good news, however, is tinged somewhat with disappointment that the changes don’t go far enough to allay concerns over the seasonality of the Irish car market, which causes numerous problems for distributors, dealers and consumers alike.

Unless the year identifier is eradicated altogether from Irish number plates, FGAI believes that 25 years of Irish car buying habits are unlikely to change and most buyers will continue to purchase their cars in the first three months of the year.

Fiat Group Automobiles is also concerned at the increasingly cluttered nature of Irish number plates. While the likes of Germany and the UK have a maximum of seven characters on its number plates, Ireland could potentially have number plates with as many as ten or eleven characters, thereby rendering them even more difficult to read and recall.

FGAI say that the Irish Motor Industry is hugely important to the overall Irish economy. It employs 37,000 people in every corner of the country and makes up a disproportionately large percentage of the state’s overall tax revenue. It is also widely used by economists as a barometer of overall consumer confidence in Ireland.

The reported changes in the number plate system for 2013 demonstrate that the government is willing to work with the industry and FGAI views the number plate revisions as a very positive first step, but hopes that further engagement and cooperation with the government will follow and more positive revisions can be introduced in the near future.