New sales down as car buyers look to imports writes Geraldine Herbert
- In the first five months of the year, there was a 7.6% decrease in new cars sold in comparison with the same period last year.
- To the end of May this year, 79,324 new cars have been sold – down from 85,868 in 2018.
- While new car sales are likely to reach about 110,000 by the end of the year, car imports are set to exceed the 104,000 mark, so 2019 may end with sales divided equally between new and imported second-hand cars.
- Volkswagen maintained its position as Ireland’s favourite car manufacturer, with an 11.33pc market share ahead of Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and Skoda.
- The most popular new car is the Nissan Qashqai followed by the Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Tiguan and Skoda Octavia.
- Electric cars sales are up by almost 300%, with 1,902 sold in the first five months of this year compared with only 1,233 in all of 2018.
- When it comes to colour we are a conservative bunch. Grey has replaced black as the most common new car colour, followed by white and blue.
- Hatchbacks are still the most common body types, accounting for more than 30% of all new cars sold while saloons account for only 15%.
- Diesel continues to take the lion’s share of new car sales but petrol’s share of the market grew to 40pc. Plug-in and regular hybrids now account for 9.4%, while electric car sales make up just 2.4%
- Almost a third of new car buyers opted for automatic gearboxes so far this year, while 60% of all new cars sold fall into the A band for motor tax, with emissions of 120g/m or less.
Geraldine Herbert
11th June 2019
