The Toyota Yaris was Ireland's best selling car in June.

Car sales bounce back

AFTER a slowdown in May, car sales bounced back last month, which showed a 12% increase compared to June 2015.

Official 161 car sales figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) also show that new car registrations are up 23% (101,338) on the same period last year (82,337).

In the business sector, light commercial vehicles (LCV) are up 9% (867) on June last year (799) and year to date are up 26% (18,417) overall.

Heavy goods vehicle (HGV) registrations have witnessed a decline of -29% for the month of June (112) when compared to the same month last year (157), but registrations are up 42% year to date.

In Mayo, 1,978 vehicles have been registered so far this year, an increase of 18.02% on last year.

Commenting on the figurers, SIMI director general Alan Nolan said: “At the start of the year we predicted that this year’s registration numbers should reach 150,000 for the first time since 2008, and these figurers keep us on track to deliver that.

“From today, of course, the focus turns to the 162 registration period. This year promises to be the first normal year of registrations since the recession and with the range of attractive offers available across all brands, we are confident that 162 will also deliver in the coming months.”

The top five selling makes so far this year are Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, Ford and Nissan, while the top five selling models are the Hyundai Tuscon, Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus, Skoda Octavia and Nissan Qashqai. The top selling car in June was the Toyota Yaris.