Sales of new cars in Ireland staged something of a recovery in August, following a disappointing July. Total new registrations for August were 8,157 - a hefty 36.7 per cent rise on the figure for August 2021. Those figures mean that total sales for the year to date are now down by only 1.2 per cent compared to 2021, with a total of 95,183 new cars registered.
Sales still below 2019 levels
That number is still down on the pre-Covid 2019 figure of 110,527, which means that, compared to the last year without a pandemic (or for that matter a global energy crisis, a war in Ukraine, or the continuing shortage of parts and components in the supply chain), sales are down by 14 per cent.
Commenting on the new vehicle registrations, Brian Cooke, Director General SIMI, said: "While new car sales showed some improvement during the month of August, year-to-date sales are still marginally behind last year and 14 per cent behind pre-Covid 2019 levels, with supply chain issues still hampering both the new and used car markets. The sale of new electric vehicles continues to be the one positive feature of the overall market, with year-on-year growth of 80 per cent. However, it needs to be underlined that we are still in the very early stages of the electric vehicle project, and we have a long way to go to meet the challenging targets in the Government's Climate Action Plan. In this context it is essential that Government supports both consumers and businesses by extending EV incentives at current levels in the forthcoming Budget. By doing this we can help secure a greater supply of EVs for the Irish market, increase new EV sales in the short term and create an active used EV market, which will make an electric vehicle affordable to a wider constituency of motorists. In addition, if we want to speed up the removal of the oldest highest emitting vehicles from the national fleet, Government should refrain from any further taxation increases. This would encourage activity in both the new and used car markets, allowing motorists to trade up to a cleaner new or newer more fuel-efficient car."
Electric and hybrid cars dominate
Used car imports have continued to fall this year, dropping by 6.3 per cent in August. For the year to date, imports are down by 28.4 per cent to 33,084 used cars. Worryingly, light commercial sales - vans, basically - have fallen too, and that's a bad sign for the underlying economy. Van sales were down by 28.3 per cent in August, and they're down by 22.3 per cent for the year to date. Electric and electrified cars continue to rise in popularity though. Indeed, if you combine the sales of hybrids, plug-in hybrids and fully-electric cars they now represent 40 per cent of all new cars sold. Petrol power is still overall the dominant sales force, accounting for 30 per cent of sales. Diesel holds 27 per cent, with hybrid on 20.3 per cent, electric on 13.3 per cent and plug-in hybrids on 6.7 per cent.
Toyota the best-selling brand
Toyota is still top of the charts in the best-selling brands list, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia and Skoda. The Hyundai Tucson is the best-selling car in Ireland for the year to date, followed by the Toyota Corolla, Kia Sportage, Toyota C-HR and Toyota RAV4. The best-selling car in August was the Volkswagen ID.4, a performance that has helped to lift it to the top of the best-selling electric car charts. In second EV place was the Hyundai Ioniq 5, followed by the Kia EV6, the Volkswagen ID.3 and the Nissan Leaf.