What's the news?
Did you reckon you've been seeing a lot of Hyundai's new Tuscon on the road lately? Well, you're right - it was the best selling car in Ireland in January and it has held on to that top spot through February.
Total car sales in February were up by 37 per cent compared to Feb 2015, with 21,625 new cars registered. Overall, since Jan 1st, new car sales are up by 35 per cent to 61,350 - or about the same number of cars as were sold in the whole of 2009...
It's as you were in the top-selling brands contest - Hyundai keeps its top spot, held since the first week of January, with Toyota, Ford, Volkswagen and Nissan following behind to complete the top five.
The best selling models were the Hyundai Tuscon, Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Skoda Octavia and Toyota Corolla.
Van sales were also up in February, by 50 per cent to 3,484 registrations while HGV sales were also up by 26 per cent.
Commenting on the figurers SIMI Deputy Director General Brian Cooke said: "With today the first day of Spring, new car registrations are showing the early signs of a strong 2016 for the Motor Industry. The increased growth in registrations, both in cars and commercial vehicles, for the month of February clearly indicate that consumer and business confidence remain strong. The increase in new car registrations is partly due to the pent-up demand that arose as Ireland has replaced so few older cars with new ones over recent years, and this in addition to lower new car prices driven by the generous offers from retailers and manufacturers, and the availability of low cost finance are all helping to increase sales. In particular, those consumers with a car to trade-in are likely to benefit from higher valuations on their trade-ins because the lower level of new cars registered over the previous six years has resulted in a very strong demand for good quality used cars, resulting in a lower cost to change up to a new or newer car."
Will that consumer confidence survive the tumultuous political period we've just voted ourselves into? Will sales break through the 150,000 barrier this year? Watch this space...