Hyundai Ireland has joined the higher echelons of new car sales in this country - slotting into third place with record sales in January.
New car sales from the SIMI for the month of January 2014 show the Irish market is up a very encouraging 32.81 per cent for the same month last year.
Speaking at a press briefing, Hyundai Ireland executives underlined the company’s impressive performance which showed its market share rising to 10.12 from 8.22 per cent for 2013.
Accounting for the market increase of 32.81 per cent, Hyundai’s performance of increasing their January sales from 1,520 units in 2013 to 2,320 units this January is topped only by Toyota’s own exceptional performance so far this year. Nonetheless, an increase of 52.63 per cent for the big January sales month is outstanding.
Toyota’s strong start to 2014 leave it as top manufacturer, followed by Volkswagen, and then Hyundai, with Ford in fourth position for January.
The Volkswagen Golf was the top model followed by the Toyota Corolla, Ford Focus, and Hyundai ix35 was Ireland’s fourth biggest seller in January. Seven hundred and seventy two units sold represents an increase of 96.94 per cent over last January for this model range.
The Hyundai i30 also made the top 10, in seventh place with 643 units sold, representing 139.93 per cent more than in January 2013 for this model range.
In the last five years Hyundai Ireland has increased its market share from 2.99 per cent in 2.77 (a fall back from 3.54 per cent in 2008 ) in 2009 to 10.12 per cent in January of this year making it Ireland’s fastest growing brand.
The brand was in 11th place with total January unit sales of just 436 units, and as with all marques it felt like they had fallen over a cliff. Hyundai was down -75.48 per cent on the previous January - a worse percentage performance than any of the top ten ahead of them.
For a full year Hyundai has grown 238.46 per cent from 2009 to the January 2014 figures to date. This level of performance is worthy of marking the first time in 10 years that a brand has joined the top three in the Irish car market, with ambitions to stay there.
Stephen Gleeson, managing director Hyundai Ireland, told the Advertiser that the company was very pleased with its performance which is expected to be further strengthened next month with greater availability of two significant models.
He added, “We are delighted with our performance to date in 2014, confirming us as Ireland’s fastest growing car brand. We expect that we can continue our successful start in February with the first substantial deliveries of Santa Fe and greater availability of the new i10.”
Sarah Hayes, marketing manager Hyundai Ireland, said the company was witnessing “tremendous growth in Hyundai brand awareness” thanks to “product design” and our “superb warranty package”.
