3 January 2017

Car registrations 17.5pc up in 2016

New car registrations for 2016 were 17.5pc ahead of 2015, finishing out at 146,672, writes Brian Byrne.

The end of year figures also put Toyota as the biggest selling brand in Ireland for the year with 15,515 units, from Volkswagen (15,506) and Hyundai (15,421), with Ford (14,630) and Nissan (11,877) rounding out the top five.

The Hyundai Tucson (7,419) was the biggest selling model of the year, followed by Volkswagen's Golf (5,452), Ford's Focus (4,822), Skoda's Octavia (4,657) and Nissan's Qashqai (4,594).

During December, with a total of 499 cars registered, a 45pc boost over last year, Toyota dealers achieved 150 registrations between the 20th of the month and the end of the year, leapfrogging Volkswagen (+3) and Hyundai (+3) into top place for 2016 (figures from Motorcheck.ie).

Light commercial vehicles also showed an increase year on year, finishing out at 18.25pc above 2015, to 23,829.

Pictured is Toyota's latest offering, the C-HR compact crossover.