New car sales so far this year have exceeded 100,000, the first time since 2008. Cars are the second largest outlay for most people after their homes, so these figures serve as an economic bellwether.
Buyers will find a very changed landscape since the heady days of the Celtic Tiger and not just in terms of car design.
Technology has radically overhauled even affordable small hatchbacks. Fully autonomous cars are still several years away. Yet systems that automatically steers a car into a tight parking spot at the touch of a button, or prevent collisions at speeds below 50km/h, are not reserved for luxury cars or futuristic concepts. They feature on small Fiats, Fords and Volkswagens on sale today. Nearly every modern car will synch with your smartphone for music steaming, handsfree calls and even internet access.
The days of the big brash SUVs may be gone, but crossovers – family hatchbacks with SUV styling and sometimes three rows of seats – are the favoured choice of buyers across the globe.
Under the bonnet, while battery-power hasn’t yet usurped the combustion engine, the range of alternative models and hybrid variations has vastly expanded. Far from a few oddball models on the market in 2008, mainstream cars, such as the VW Golf, can be bought in full-electric or plug-in hybrid formats. Meanwhile BMW’s i8 sports car and the Tesla range have redefined the electric car for a new generation of motorists.
And it’s not just the image of electric cars that have radically altered. Brand perceptions and prejudices have been overhauled as well.
Newcomer Dacia arrived in Ireland in March 2013, but already has a 3 per cent share; ahead of the likes of Peugeot and Seat. Skoda is no longer regarded as a discount brand and is now the sixth best-selling marque on the market, ahead of the likes of Opel and Renault. Another major success story has been Korean firm Hyundai, the fourth best-selling brand so far this year and within a whisker of taking third place from Ford. At the same time sales of once-dominant brands like Volkswagen, Toyota and Ford have fallen.
With many consumers returning to forecourts after a seven-year hiatus there’s an opportunity for car brands to reinvent themselves. Yet the challenge will be to push the car up consumer wishlists, particularly with a new generation for whom the latest smartphone is more of a status symbol than any sports car.