Toyota has taken the lead as Ireland’s best-selling car brand with a 15 percent market share in January 2021, a key selling period for the car industry.
Driven by an invigorated demand for low CO2 emitting, environmentally sustainable cars, Toyota has three self-charging hybrid models in SIMI’s list of top five new car purchases last month and has the lowest average CO2 emissions of 86.49g/km.
Toyota, which boasts of both the widest range of low emissions cars in Ireland and sells more electrified cars than any other brand, exited the diesel passenger car market in 2018 and since then has in their words been leading the charge from heavier polluting vehicles into electrification. In January this year, 93 percent of all Toyota sales have been hybrid.
In powertrain terms, hybrid has had a significant year-on-year market share increase with a 42 per cent jump in popularity, and now accounts for almost 20 percent of the entire new car market.
Toyota Ireland also points out that this growth has been achieved without any cost to Government given there are no incentives on new hybrid purchases.
It adds that in contrast, the demand for both pure petrol and diesel powered cars has dropped, with diesel falling further than any other powertrain with more than a 13 percent decrease compared to January 2020.
“The preference for self-charging hybrids continues to go from strength to strength. Considering overall market penetration for hybrid cars was at 5.5 per cent just three years ago, the consumer mindset shift towards more sustainable motoring is really gathering pace now and the tide is starting to turn against higher emitting vehicles like diesel.
“While Toyota has been pushing the sustainability agenda for more than 20 years, it feels like Ireland is finally coming to the crossroads and starting to tip things in the favour of our planet. However, with diesel still accounting for almost 37% of the market it’s clear that we still have a long journey ahead of us, despite the promising growth in both hybrids and BEVs.
“The Government’s introduction of the new CO2 related tax bands does seem to be having the right impact though, with 82 percent of all new car sales in January qualifying within the A band. We at Toyota are proud to say that over 99 percent of all the cars we sold in 2021 to date have been under 111grams/km.
“As the lowest CO2 mass market brand in Ireland, Toyota hybrid vehicles sold in 2019 and 2020 will have saved over 100,000 tonnes of CO2 from the environment over their lifetime, compared to petrol and diesel cars.
“Toyota’s focus on hybrid epitomises our commitment to our brand promise, ‘Built for a Better World’, which aims to make life better for Irish families and future generations by providing more sustainable mobility solutions. Staying true to our Kaizen principles of continuous improvement, our new highly affordable Yaris hybrid is proven to drive up to 80% of the time in zero emissions mode in city driving conditions. With the widest range of cost-effective electrified cars in Ireland, Toyota is ensuring when it comes to choosing your next car, being environmentally conscious doesn’t need to cost the Earth,” Steve Tormey, Chief Executive of Toyota Ireland, said.
Toyota wins the 2020 global sales race
Meanwhile, despite being down 10.5 percent on 2019, Toyota Motor has finished 2020 as the number one for global sales, with about 220,000 units ahead of Volkswagen Group.
Toyota Motor includes Toyota. Lexus, Daihatsu, and Hino. Volkswagen Group includes Volkswagen, Audi, Seat, Skoda, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, as well as Volkswagen Commercials, MAN and Scania. Overall, it was down 15.2 percent on 2019.
