New car sales for january 2015 up by over 25 per cent

Whichever way you analyse it, new car sales were well up in January 2015 compared to the same month last year.

 

While figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) and Motorcheck.ie differ somewhat, both indicate serious growth in the sale of new cars and new commercial vehicles so far in 2015.

 

SIMI's official statistics show that new car registrations were at 29,948 in January, an increase of 31 per cent on the same month last year. This, says SIMI, should see sales comfortably exceed 100,000 at the end of the year for the first time since 2008.

 

At 4,839 registrations, light commercial vehicle sales were up by 70 per cent in January and look set to exceed 20,000 - again for the first time since 2008 - while HGV (heavy goods vehicle) registrations are down 37 per cent.

 

SIMI president James Brooks said: “2014 was a positive year for the motor industry and we are confident that this growth will continue into 2015, and this is borne out by the increase in vehicle sales in January 2015.”

 

Figures from DoneDeal, Ireland’s most popular motoring site, also highlight the sustained upturn in the motor industry in 2014, with over 320,000 cars dvertised and sold on the website.

 

The strongest growth in new car sales for January 2015 was seen in Co. Louth with a 43 per cent increase on last year. New cars sales are up in all counties, with the largest share of new car sales in Dublin.

 

Meanwhile, Motorcheck.ie put the new car registration figures for last month at 28,750 - which represents an increase of 5,818 units on 2014 figures. Used import registrations declined by almost five per cent on January 2014 levels, with just 4,624 used imports registered in last month.

 

The increase in new car sales over the past two to three years is easing some of the pressure on used car stock, according to Motorcheck.ie, and may be leading to a tailing off in used imports from the UK this year.

 

Commenting on the figures, Michael Rochford, managing director of Motorcheck.ie, said: “The industry bounced back in 2014 and it’s great to see the positive trends continuing into 2015. It is predicted that there will be between 105,000 and 115,000 new car registrations this year, and these are the kind of levels required to sustain a healthy motor trade.”

 

According to Motorcheck.ie, commercial sales are also up hugely on last year, with over 5,703 new commercial vehicles registered in January 2015 - an increase of approximately 57.4 per cent on 2014.

 

Toyota is the market leader in new car sales so far this year, selling 3,866 new cars in January. This represents a 38 per cent increase over the same period in 2014. The Corolla, Yaris and Auris are all in the top 10 most popular models sold in January. Overall, Toyota enjoys a 13 per cent market share.