SIMI reports the total of new car registrations for the month of February were steady as registrations were in line (17,081) when compared to February 2017 (17,089) while new car registrations year to date remain -3.5 per cent (54,143), down on the same period last year (56,092), writes Trish Whelan.
There was a mixed result for the new Commercial Vehicle sector between Light and Heavy Commercial Vehicle registrations. New LCV registrations were up 6.13 per cent (2,634) on February 2017 (2,487) and year to date are up 6 per cent (9,356). While new HGVs have declined 10 per cent for February (243) compared to the same month last year (270) and are down 11 per cent (646) year to date.
Imported Used Cars increased by 14.4 per cent in February and year to date are 17.3 per cent (17,964) ahead of 2017 (15,317).
Commenting, SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan said “The increase in the light commercial vehicle sector reflects the strong economic growth for businesses, particularly in the local economy, while HGVs which may be more impacted by Brexit concerns, remain down 11 per cent. The Brexit impact is also visible in the continued growth in used car imports which were 15.7 per cent up in February.”
So far this year diesel engine cars have accounted for 57.4 per cent of sales with petrol at 36.4 per cent, Petrol electric at 5.6 per cent, Petrol/Plug-in Hybrid at 0.3 per cent and pure Electric also at 0.3 per cent. As a consequence of this shift from diesel, the average C02 emissions for new cars registered this year have increased by 2.1 per cent.
The top selling car brands year to date are: 1. Toyota, 2. Hyundai, 3. Volkswagen, 4. Ford, 5. Nissan.
The five top car models year to date are: 1. Hyundai Tucson, 2. Nissan Qashqai, 3. Ford Focus, 4. Skoda Octavia, 5. VW Golf; while the top selling car for the month of February was the Skoda Octavia.
