In a segment that is essentially the largest in the Irish market, it is very hard to beat Ford Focus, and in the early selling this year that still didn't happen, with the model registering 2,721 sales, even though that is a significant drop of 14.5 per cent compared to January-February 2002.
But this year, aided by having a full range of cars, Toyota's Corolla (2,515) made a good attempt at tipping the Ford crown, and with that representing a 70 per cent improvement, as the year rolls out it suggests a neck-and-neck contest.
VW's Golf (2,068), in a runout year, actually moved a few more units than last year, overtaking Nissan's Almera (2,001) which dipped around 16 per cent.
Opel's Astra (1,365) also lost ground, but it is also in runout, and still managed to stay ahead of Renault's new Megane II (1,036) which slipped almost 10 per cent against the old model. Peugeot's 307 (953) also fell off, by more than a quarter against the 2002 performance, while VW's Bora (626) motored on undramatically, though recording a 15 per cent drop. Fiat also lost heavily in sales of Stilo (559), a little more than half for the January-February 2002 period. And Honda's Civic (468) declined by more than a third, as did Citroen's now-aging Xsara (435/687).
Again, with the late arrival of the new Cordoba (385), SEAT showed a boost of over 68 per cent, while Mazda's 323 (310), awaiting a replacement, soldiered on respectably enough under the circumstances. Other improvers included Suzuki's Liana (257/98), and Kia's Rio (217/80).
In the MPV area of the segment, Opel's Zafira (659/516) drove ahead of Renault's outgoing Scenic (509/557), while Mitsubishi's Space Star (149/126) also pulled ahead of the rest. So too did Nissan's Tino (70/59). Fiat's superb but still-quirky Multipla (43/127) slipped significantly, in what must be an alarming drop off for the company.
SUVs in this segment are led by Toyota's RAV4 (255/342), which nevertheless declined significantly, albeit possibly because the market is a little saturated from strong sales in the last few years. Sporty cars include the well-performing Hyundai Coupe (322/236), Subaru's Impreza (84/84), and Mazda's MX-5 (14/17).