New car sales set to return to 2008 levels

New car sales are predicted to be in the region of 150,000 for 2016, up from the 124,945 registered in 2015.

Figures from the Society of the Irish motor industry show new car registrations for 2015 were 30 per cent up on the previous year, exceeding 100,000 for the first time since 2008.

Despite the recent emissions scandal, Volkswagen finished the year as the best selling brand, with 15,379 registrations. However the scandal only emerged in September when most of the new car market had already been completed. Toyota was the second best selling brand, followed by Ford, Hyundai and Nissan. At the luxury end of the market, Audi recorded 5,224 new car sales, ahead of BMW with 4,833 and Mercedes-Benz with 2,634. Sales for Porsche rose from 49 in 2014 to 85 last year.

Amongst the larger selling brands, Nissan recorded the strongest growth rate, up 59.2 per cent on 2014, while Hyundai sales were up 40.75 per cent.

The best selling model of 2015 was the VW Golf, followed by the Ford Focus and Nissan Qashqai. At the premium end of the market, the BMW 5 Series recorded 1,598 registrations making it the German brand’s best-selling model and ahead of the nearest premium rival, the Audi A6 with 1,194.

Diesel remains the favoured engine variant for buyers, making up 71 per cent of sales, followed by petrol with 27 per cent of all sales. Sales of petrol-electric hybrids were 1,406 last year, with 116 plug-in petrol electric hybrids also sold. Fully electric car sales also rose, from 221 in 2014 to 466 last year.

Dealers are reporting brisk orders for 161 registrations, exceeding those of last year. Several dealers, distributors and car importers predicted that 2016 will see the new car market recording 150,000 registrations. That would bring it into line with sales back in 2008.

According to SIMI director general Alan Nolan: “We are pleased that 2015 has turned out to be a good year of continued recovery for our Industry which is a very strong indicator of the health of the general economy. We now look forward to 2016 with greater optimism and a real potential to see registrations return to normal levels that we have not seen since before 2008.”

At the commercial end of the market - a bellwether for economic activity - there was a 42 per cent increase in sales of light commercial vehicles last year with 23,722 registrations. Figures for heavy goods vehicles show 2,135 registrations, up 9 per cent on 2014.