The eagerly awaited first quarter results for new car sales are in and Motorcheck.ie can reveal that Volkswagen is now officially Ireland’s best selling brand for 2013 (year to date).
The closing stages of the race proved to be extremely significant with 56% of March’s total registrations recorded on the last five days of the month.
Nevertheless the German manufacturer crossed the finish line with 4,882 cars registered; a comfortable 747 units ahead of Japanese rival Toyota who came in at 4,135.
The Volkswagen Golf proved to be largely unstoppable and a major part of the brands quarterly success. Motorcheck.ie figures show that there were 2,083 new Golf’s registered in the first quarter of this year representing a whopping 43% of Volkswagen’s total sales. No surprise then that it’s the most popular car this year ahead of the Nissan Qashqai and Ford Focus in second and third place respectively.
The overall market does however remain somewhat depressed. Total sales for 2013 are 13% down on 2012 with 39,595 new cars registered against 45,593 for the equivalent period in 2012.
The only brands in the Top 10 to show an increase in volumes registered were Hyundai (up 25%), Audi (up 13%) and Kia (up 5%).
Popular brands Renault, Toyota & Ford suffered the biggest losses with a drop of 47%, 29% and 23% respectively.
The industry will now set its sights firmly on July 1st when it’s hoped that the ‘13-2’ number plate will stimulate a ‘second coming’ for new car sales.
Top 10 Makes
Top 10 Models
Registrations for 2013 versus 2012