New car sales boom in June on back of EVs boost - Homepage
Michael McAleerNew car sales in June rose by nearly 60 per cent, with the bulk of the growth coming from newly registered electric cars (EVs).In what is traditionally a quiet month for car sales ahead of the numberplate change on July 1st each year, June saw 2,376 sales compared to 1,493 for the same month last year.EVs made up 50.7 per cent of June registrations, with Tesla accounting for 524 of the registrations last month.So far this year, the new car market is up 3.4 per cent with 81,686 sales. Petrol remains the most popular engine format, with a 27.25 per cent market share, ahead of regular hybrids with 22.8 per cent, followed by diesel on 17.3 per cent, and electric on 16.6 per cent. A further 15 per cent is made up of plug-in hybrid (PHEV) models.Toyota remains the best-selling car brand with 11,421 registrations this year, ahead of Volkswagen with 9,066, Hyundai with 7,805, Skoda with 7,513 and Kia with 6,403.The popularity of premium brands means BMW is now the sixth best-selling car brand on the Irish market with 3,308 registrations, outselling mainstream brands like Nissan, Ford, Renault and Peugeot. Similarly, Audi is the eighth best-selling brand with 3,021 sales.Hyundai's Tucson is the best-selling model with 3,334 sales, ahead of Toyota's Rav4 on 2,432 and its Yaris Cross on 2,398.The hire-drive market now accounts for 11.4 per cent of total registrations, making up 9,282 new vehicles added to the Irish car fleet, while the motor industry itself accounts for 12.1 per cent of registrations, comprising cars registered by either the Irish distributor or local dealers for use as demonstrator or test drive cars.While the hire-drive market is a bellwether for tourism activity, just 14 EVs were registered by this market sector so far this year.In the commercial market, while van sales rose significantly in June - up 54 per cent on the same month last year to 1,054 - the market is down 6.7 per cent so far this year, with total registrations of 18,820.There's a similar downturn in the heavy goods vehicle (HGV) market, with registrations down 16 per cent this year at 1,926. Both of these are often seen as indicators of the state of the wider economy, as businesses usually invest in new vehicles based on expectations of growth.
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