Number of new car sales up by over 25%

The number of new cars taxed for the first time last month jumped by more than a quarter compared to last year — as car sales continue to soar.

Coming less than a week after the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) predicted car sales will top 100,000 this year for the first time since the economic crash, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show the motor trade is returning to boom levels of trade.

The CSO figures show the number of new cars licensed for the first time last month increased by 25.9% to 20,105 compared to January 2014.

The number of used (imported) cars was 4,001 – up 0.9% from January of last year. Toyota was the most popular car brand with 2,908 new cars licensed, followed by Ford (2,245), Hyundai (2,052) and Volkswagen (1,884).

The most popular brand of used import taxed in Ireland for the first time was Ford (553), followed by Volkswagen (514), Vauxhall (436), and Audi (314).

The total number of all new vehicles licensed during last month was 23,152 compared with 18,328 during the same month last year — an increase of 26.3%. The number of new goods vehicles licensed in January was 2,050 — up 47.5% from last year.

The CSO figures are somewhat different from those released by SIMI last week, which showed a total of 29,848 new cars registered for January — up 31% compared to January 2014.

Once again, these figures showed Toyota as the most popular car brand for Irish motorists at 3,866 registrations and 13% of the market share. The Japanese car manufacturer knocked Volkswagen, with 3,219 registrations, off the top rung. Ford came in third with 3,129 registrations, with Hyundai taking fourth place with 2,941 registrations.

At the more luxury and premium end of the market, some 822 new Audis were licensed. This compared to BMW (736), Mercedes (497), Volvo (252), Lexus (96), Jaguar (56), and Porsche (8).

Last week, SIMI said it expects sales for 2015 to “comfortably exceed” 100,000 at the end of the year for the first time since 2008. Light commercial vehicles are expected to top 20,000 also for the first time in six years.

Economist Jim Power said that providing political and economic conditions remain stable, new car sales could hit 120,000 during 2015 after a number of “very difficult years for the motor trade”.

SIMI has pointed out that the motor industry generated €965m for the Exchequer last year and helped create an additional 3,800 jobs since 2013.