The figures released by The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that Volkswagen had the highest number of registrations in the Irish car market in 2012 with 10,073 new cars sold, followed by Toyota (9,998) and Ford (8,592).
The Ford Focus was the best selling car of 2012 in front of the VW Golf and Nissan Qashqai.
December car sales were down 15 percent on December 2011. Last year, customers were incentivised to purchase their new car in December in order to avail of the lower VAT rate (VAT was increased in the last Budget) so this would have impacted on the lower sales in December.
Figures also show that 92 percent of cars sold last year were in the two lowest C02 emission categories, which is 2 percent more than in 2011. Some 74 percent of cars sold last year were diesel, with just 23 percent petrol. Silver remained the most popular car colour in 2012.
All new cars bought in this country will have a new number plate this year; instead of 13-D the new plate will be 131-D for the first registration plate, followed by 132-D for cars bought in the second half of the year. This new format plate will be in place each year from now on.
SIMI's Director General Alan Nolan says "While it is too early to tell how new car sales are doing, there certainly has been a lot of interest from the public in the new number plate. The Motor Industry is often used as a barometer for the economy and we hope, with consumer confidence seeing some slight pick up of late, combined with the new number plate, that interest will grow in the coming weeks."
