The Hyundai Tucson regains its crown as Ireland's bestselling car in 2021
The Hyundai Tucson regains its crown as Ireland’s bestselling car in 2021

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry has released the official 211 new vehicle registration figures for January. They show that new car registrations for January in Ireland are down 17.8% when compared to January 2020. This totals 25,191 new cars registered here in the first month of the year, versus 30,650 cars for the same month in 2020.

Level 5 restrictions mean that showrooms have been closed with remote sales services being offered, as well as the delivery of new cars to their new owners. Dealers are still open for service and repairs.

There have been some winners with the all-new Hyundai Tucson posting strong sales in January. The new model arrived in Ireland in late 2020, with diesel and hybrid offerings.

The Tucson is followed by another favourite the Toyota Corolla in second place and the Toyota RAV4 in third place. The rest of the top 10 is made up of the Ford Focus, Toyota Yaris, Toyota C-HR, Skoda Octavia, Volkswagen Golf, Hyundai Kona and Volkswagen Tiguan.

The bestselling brand in Ireland in January 2021 was Toyota, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Ford, Skoda, Nissan, Kia, Peugeot, Renault and SEAT.

Registrations of new electric vehicles in Ireland in January also saw an increase, up nearly 10% from 891 cars in January 2020 to 980 cars in January 2021.

Diesel sales in January are down but stood at a majority market share at 35.85%, almost even with petrol at 34.70%. Electric accounted for 3.89% of the new car market last month, with plug-in hybrids at 4.23% and hybrid at 19.12%.

Used car imports saw a 3.1% (6,824) increase in January when compared with January 2020 (6,622).

Light commercial vehicles (LCV) are down 10.9% (5,033) compared to January last year (5,647). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations also showing a decrease of 4.5% (340) in comparison to January 2020 (356).

Commenting on the new vehicle registrations figures Tom Cullen SIMI Deputy Director General said: “New car registrations are down 17% on January 2020, the fifth consecutive January that new car sales have fallen, although this year’s registrations must be seen in the context of the pandemic and associated restrictions. Strong pre-orders coming into the New Year and the ability of the Industry to provide both on-line shopping and a click and deliver service, has mitigated somewhat against the full impact of the pandemic in January. On a positive note, despite the fall in new cars sales both Electric Vehicles and PHEVS are ahead of last January, and with more models and supply coming on stream as the year progresses, it is anticipated that this growth will continue. It is vital for society and business that the current restrictions succeed in driving down the incidence of COVID and with the delivery of COVID vaccines, we hope that business can return to more normal levels once the health situation allows. In the meantime, to protect long term employment and local businesses, it is essential that the current Government business and employee supports remain in place.”