Irish new car market down over 12 per cent
The Irish new car market is down over 12 per cent after three-quarters of the year, according to figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry, writes Padraic Deane.
There were 2,487 new cars sold in September this year, which is 10 per cent less then last September (2,767).
So far this year, 76,630 new cars were sold, down 12% on this time last year (87,163). That’s 10,533 less new car sold in the last nine months. With the current Government austerity policies due to continue, what will this figure fall to next year?
Top Ten Selling Makes for the year to date (v similar period in 2011)
| Pos | Make | 2012 | 2011 | %Change | 2012% | 2011% |
| Units | Units | Share | Share | |||
| 1 | Volkswagen | 9700 | 10770 | -9.94 | 12.66 | 12.36 |
| 2 | Toyota | 9612 | 11428 | -15.89 | 12.54 | 13.11 |
| 3 | Ford | 8273 | 10322 | -19.85 | 10.8 | 11.84 |
| 4 | Nissan | 5980 | 6682 | -10.51 | 7.8 | 7.67 |
| 5 | Renault | 5179 | 8355 | -38.01 | 6.76 | 9.59 |
| 6 | Hyundai | 5000 | 3927 | +27.32 | 6.52 | 4.51 |
| 7 | GM(Opel) | 4935 | 6117 | -19.32 | 6.44 | 7.02 |
| 8 | Skoda | 4834 | 4530 | +6.71 | 6.31 | 5.2 |
| 9 | Audi | 3577 | 3317 | +7.84 | 4.67 | 3.81 |
| 10 | BMW | 3274 | 3277 | -0.09 | 4.27 | 3.76 |
Going against the downward trend so far this year, Hyundai, Skoda and Audi (from the top 10)have actually sold more cars in 2012 year to date compared to the same period last year.
In September, the top three selling car makes, were Volkswagen, Ford and Toyota. For the year to date, Volkswagen now lead Toyota by 88 units. This is reduced to 68 units if you include new car personal imports – with 21 Volkswagen cars as opposed to 41 Toyota cars recorded for the first nine months of 2012. Ford is in third place and for the record there were 29 new Ford cars personally imported in to Ireland so far this year.
The top selling model in September was the BMW 3-Series, followed by the Ford Focus and the Skoda Octavia in third place.
Top Selling Models for the year to date
| Pos | Make/Range | 2012 | 2012 |
| Units | %Units | ||
| 1 | Ford Focus | 3591 | 4.77 |
| 2 | Nissan Qashqui | 3256 | 4.35 |
| 3 | Volkswagen Golf | 3237 | 4.22 |
| 4 | Toyota Avensis | 2856 | 3.73 |
| 5 | Toyota Yaris | 2367 | 3.09 |
| 6 | Skoda Octavia | 2299 | 3 |
| 7 | Ford Fiesta | 2099 | 2.74 |
| 8 | Volkswagen Passat | 2057 | 2.68 |
| 9 | Toyota Auris | 1828 | 2.39 |
| 10 | Renault Fluence | 1812 | 2.36 |
Van sales marginally down
LCV (van) sales in September were down 4% on 2011. For the year to date, new van sales are marginally down by 2.57%, with 9,999 sold so far this year, compared to 10,263 in the first nine months of 2011.
So far in 2012, Volkswagen now lead Ford by 103 units. This is increased to 160 units if you include new van personal imports – with 85 Volkswagen vars as opposed to 28 Ford vars recorded for the first nine months of 2012.
| Rank | Make | 2012 | 2012 |
| Unirs | %Units | ||
| 1 | Volkswagen | 2200 | 22 |
| 2 | Fod | 2097 | 20.97 |
| 3 | Renault | 1154 | 11.54 |
| 4 | Toyota | 938 | 9.38 |
| 5 | Pengeot | 540 | 5.4 |
| 6 | Citroen | 523 | 5.23 |
| 7 | Nissan | 488 | 4.88 |
| 8 | GM (Opel) | 480 | 4.8 |
| 9 | Land Rover | 417 | 4.17 |
| 10 | Fiat | 379 | 3.79 |
Finally, HGV (truck) sales in September were unchanged on 2011 , but are up by 13,77% for the year to date. 1,198 HGVs have been sold so far this year.