For the third month in succession car sales are down writes Geraldine Herbert
- To the end of March this year, 75,967 new private cars have been licensed, down from 93,205 in the same time last year.
- Toyota maintained its position as Ireland’s favourite car manufacturer with a 9.87% market share ahead of Ford, Volkswagen, Hyundai and Nissan.
- The most popular new car is the Hyundai Tucson followed by the Nissan Qashqai, Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia and Volkswagen Golf
- Used Car imports are on the rise and 23,800 cars were imported in the first three months of year compared with just over 15,000 for the same period last year
- Despite the popularity of SUVs/Crossovers hatchbacks, MPVs and saloons are the most common body types accounting for almost 80% of all new cars.
- While diesel still takes the lion’s share of sales petrol’s share of the market grew slightly – from 27.66% in 2016 to 29.59% in 2017
- Electric cars on the increase and 299 have been sold so far this year.
- When it comes to colour we are a conservative bunch. Grey is the most common new car colour, followed by Black, White, Blue and Red.
- Hybrid cars are also up over 60% with 2,363 sold in the first three months of this year compared with 1,470 in the same period last year.
- 74% of all new cars sold are in the lowest A band for CO2 emissions.
Geraldine Herbert
4th April, 2017
