Car sales have fallen by a double-digit percentage for a third month this year, with the unavailability of the popular Honda CR-V sports utility vehicle pinpointed as a primary cause for the poorer sales.

Bermuda car-buyers' love affair with the Honda CR-V has come to an abrupt halt through Honda's decision to cease production of the export version of the old model. Honda's new version of the CR-V is too long and too wide to legally be driven on Bermuda's roads and therefore will not be coming to the Island.

At the moment no suitable replacement vehicle has been found to import in place of the CR-V. As a result, vehicle sales have plummeted this year and are now 25 percent below the 1995 level.

Across all sectors of the retail economy there was a 1.6 percent decrease in the volume of sales during June. Although the retail sales index went up 0.8 percent year-on-year the volume of sales remained in negative territory in real terms once the 2.5 percent retail sales inflation rate is factored in.

Motor vehicle dealership sales took the heftiest tumble, down 27.7 percent. Showroom sales fell 24.1 percent in February and 14 percent in April.

"The weakness in sales can be directly attributed to lower stock levels as well as the fact that one of the most popular new vehicle models on the Island is no longer available," reported the Government's Department of Statistics in its monthly bulletin.

That was confirmed by Alan Brooks, HWP general manager, who said the company had snapped up 90 CR-Vs last year after Honda announced it was ceasing production - the last of those 90 was sold in March. Since then it has been slim pickings for any potential car-buyer seeking a top of the market SUV.

"As a distributor we are looking at alternatives within upmarket SUVs. The export model of the Honda CR-V was ceased production and the new model is longer and wider and would not fit on our roads," said Mr. Brooks. He hinted that two possible SUV alternatives for Bermuda are being investigated by HWP.

This month's retail sales index summary for Bermuda showed improved sales growth in all other sectors, except the "other store types" sector.

There was strong sales growth in food stores (7.6 percent), liquor stores (9.6 percent) and building materials (10.1 percent). The improvement in building material and hardware sales was put down to large contract sales, it represented the first month of higher sales since March.

In the all other stores sector there was a 0.5 percent reduction in sales.

Bermuda residents spent a total of $101.6 million during June, with $97m of that being spent on-Island. That represented a $0.9m (0.9 percent) combined rise year on year. The level of declared overseas purchases during June rose $0.1m to $4.6m, a two percent increase.