The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has issued the official 191 new vehicle registration figures for January 2019. The figures show that for the month of January, new car registrations are down 12.6% (32,374) when compared to January 2018 (37,023).
It’s a similar story for Light Commercials, which are down 16.3% (5,650) compared to January last year (6,753), and HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also down 11.4% (356) in comparison to January 2018 (402).
Electric vehicle registrations have increased significantly with 811 registrations in January 2019, which is more than for the whole of 2017 and over 60% of the total for the whole of last year. While electric vehicle numbers are still relatively low, they are showing strong growth having increased from less than 1% of the market last year to 2.6% market share in January this year which is an encouraging increase in the right direction.
Diesel continues to be the market leader in 2019 with a 49% share despite an 8% decline on January 2018.
Petrol has grown to 40% and hybrids currently account for 7% of the new car market.
The five bestselling car brands in Ireland in January 2019 were 1.Hyundai, 2.Volkswagen, 3.Ford, 4.Toyota and 5.Nissan.
The five bestselling cars in Ireland in January 2019 were 1.Hyundai Tucson, 2.Nissan Qashqai, 3.Ford Focus, 4.Toyota Yaris, and 5.Skoda Octavia.
Brian Cooke, Director General Designate, SIMI commented: “New Vehicle Registrations in January are clearly disappointing but not surprising. With Brexit fast approaching adding to business uncertainty, the weakness of Sterling is continuing to drive down used car values which is increasing the cost to change. While we hope the EU and UK’s negotiations result in agreement that allows for free trade, the likelihood of no deal is increasing by the day. While the Industry is ramping up its preparations for a no deal Brexit, in the context of the potential impact on a sector whose activity will be in the region of €5 billion between now and the end of the year, it is crucial that the State fully clarifies the trading conditions in the event of no agreement being reached. This is an immediate issue as we may be only 8 weeks away from a no deal outcome. More positively the increase in EV sales in the second half of last year has further accelerated into January, with the total EV registrations of 811 representing nearly two-thirds of EV sales for the whole of last year.”