The Irish car industry is cautiously optimistic about its prospects for the balance of 2021, as registrations for May were surprisingly healthy, and while the overall market for new cars in Ireland is still down on the last 'normal' year of 2019, there does seem to be some resilience in the trade.
Overall sales down but May was healthy
The headline figures are these: 5,955 new cars were registered in May 2021. That's a massive climb compared to May 2020's figures of just 1,741. But of course, no one was buying a car last May, much, because we were all stuck indoors, under lockdown. However, compared to May 2019's figures of 6,320 registrations, May 2021's numbers look pretty healthy and represent a reduction of just 5.8 per cent. Registrations for the year to date of 61,147 are well ahead of 2020's equivalent figure of 51,879 but are still 23 per cent down on 2019's 79,350.
Brian Cooke, director-general of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) said: "New vehicle registrations for May were encouraging, with strong growth in both the passenger and commercial vehicle sectors when compared to last year. However, new car sales year to date are still 23 per cent behind pre-COVID 2019. The re-opening of car showrooms to customers and the expected boost to consumer spending has allowed for the completion of deals previously in the pipeline and sees retailers optimistic for both new and used vehicle sales for the balance of this year and into 2022. It is hugely encouraging to see the increase in the sale of Electric Cars and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), with Electric Vehicle sales for the first five months of the year close to the full year volume for 2020, and further growth is expected as the year progresses. In this context and with the announcement of the Government's Economic Recovery Plan imminent, it is vital that the Plan includes ambitious State funding for the EV Project, both in terms of the rolling out of national EV charging infrastructure, as well as vehicle grant supports for both private and corporate car buyers."
Diesel still king of the road
So far this year, diesel is still the most-favoured fuel, possibly surprisingly given all the anti-diesel hype. 36 per cent of buyers went for diesel, compared to 31 per cent choosing petrol power. Fully electric cars accounted for 6.46 per cent of sales, with plug-in hybrids taking 6.21 per cent, and hybrids 16.63 per cent.
Light commercial registrations, or vans if you prefer, were up significantly on 2020's numbers (16,040 year-to-date this year, 10,000 year-to-date last) but were also up on 2019's figures, of 14,570. That's potentially very good news for the Irish economy as a whole, as it shows that businesses are investing in transport.
Used car imports down, but not as much as you'd think
Used car imports, largely from the UK are still holding up surprisingly well, considering the extra costs of VAT and customs duty that have been applied post-Brexit. 30,126 used cars have been imported so far this year, compared to 18,524 this time last year, and 45,066 in 2019 (the last of the 'normal' times) which is a 33 per cent reduction.
Electric vehicle registrations are up by 107 per cent on 2019's year to date figures, with 3,952 electric cars finding homes in Ireland so far in 2021.
The best-selling car overall is still the Hyundai Tucson, followed by the Toyota Corolla, Toyota RAV4, Ford Focus, and Skoda Octavia. The best-selling brand is Toyota, followed by Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda, and Ford. The Tucson was also May's best-selling individual car.