New car sales for May were up just over 10 per cent compared to the same month in 2010, according to figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry. New car sales at 9,471 for the month were up 10.38 per cent on May 2010 (8,580 ).
The SIMI says these statistics suggest Ireland is on target to achieve the predicted level of around 88,000 new car sales for 2011 - the same level as last year.
Boosted by the arrival of the new Focus, Ford claimed number one new car sales position for the month of May with 1,561 units sold, resulting in a 16.5 per cent market share for the month. Running in second place for May was Volkswagen (13.2 per cent, 1,252 units ) and Renault (10.9 per cent 1,035 units ) was third. Toyota (1006 units ) claimed fourth position, followed by Nissan with 731 units in fifth position and Opel in sixth with 607 units. Hyundai (486 units ), Skoda (461 units ), Peugeot (326 units ) and Audi (282 units ) completed the top 10.
For the year to date, Toyota remains the country’s best-selling new car brand with 13.36 per cent (8,835 ), followed by Volkswagen with 12.09 per cent (7,994 ) and Ford in third with 11.63 per cent (7,686 ). Renault is running in fourth place with 9.51 per cent (6,286 ) market share, with Nissan in fifth position on 7.91 per cent or 5226 new car sales for the year to date.
Vantastic improvement
Light commercial vehicle and van registrations for May 2011 (1,277 ) are up nearly 75 per cent on the same period last year (730 ). The year to date figure at 7,361 is 12.55 per cent up on the first five months of last year (6,540 ).
The market leader for the year to date is Ford with 1,456 sales (19.78 per cent ), followed by Volkswagen with 1,190 sales (15.07 per cent ), Renault in third with 987 sales (13.41 per cent ) and Toyota in fourth with 746 units sold (10.13 per cent ).
However heavy vehicle or truck registrations are down 31 per cent (62 sales ) compared to May 2010 (90 sales ). This poor performance in May means that HGV registrations for the year to date are down 0.91 per cent (542 ) for the year to date compared to the same period in 2010 (547 ). The market leader for the year to date is Scania with 103 new trucks sold.
