What's the news?
Well, with 2016's new car sales rush seemingly having been under starters' orders for ages, Irish buyers were out of the gate in a hurry come the first few days of the month. Even with the second number plate coming up in July, January is still the all-get-out big month of the year for car sales, and it hasn't disappointed thus far. 14,000 cars (14,205 to be exact) were registered in the first 10 days of the month, making it a bumper registration period for the Irish car industry. That's up by just over a quarter from the same period last year, and puts the industry on a good footing to exceed 150,000 sales this year.
So far, Hyundai sits on top of the sales charts, with Toyota just behind, and Ford and Renault in third and fourth places. Hyundai's chart-topping performance is primarily being driven by the new Tuscon SUV, which has sold in big numbers - almost 900 have been sold since the start of the month. Part of that is down to pent-up demand from ix35 customers trading in, but an equal number must surely be down to Hyundai's much-publicised decision to launch the Tuscon at a discounted price, with those prices set to rise at the end of this month.
The Toyota Corolla was the second-best selling model, followed by the Ford Fiesta and the Volkswagen Golf. Volkswagen has lost both market share and raw sales in January, but company insiders aren't worried - as they point out, Volkswagen was fourth in the January sales charts last year and still finished 2015 as the best selling brand and with the Golf as best selling car.
Another strong performer was the Renault Kadjar, as the big French crossover actually managed to out-sell its mechanically-identical rival, the Nissan Qashqai, as well as other significant models such as the Skoda Octavia, Ford Mondeo and Opel Astra.
Data provided by Cartell.ie