The 201 new vehicle registration figures for January are down, according to figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI ).
New cars registrations for January are down 3.5 per cent (31,251 ) compared to January 2019 (32,370 ). Light commercial vehicles (LCVs )/ vans are up 2.1 per cent (5,666 ) compared to January last year (5,548 ), and heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs ) registrations are showing an increase of 8.8 per cent (385 ) in comparison to January 2019 (354 ). However used car imports saw a 26.4 per cent (6,623 ) decline in January compared with January 2019 (9,003 ).
Despite a decline in new car registration an important stat of note was the reduction in CO2 emissions.The average CO2 emissions (108.33g/km ) relating to a new car sold in January 2020 reduced by 5.8 per cent on the comparison (115.04g/km ) to the same time last year.
Diesel continues to remain the most popular engine type (42.1 per cent ) followed by petrol (39.6 ), hybrid (13.6 per cent ) which gained a significant increase in market share, along with electric (2.9 per cent ) and plug-in hybrid (1.8 per cent ).
New electric car registrations increased with 898 registered in January 2020, compared to 799 January 2019.
Of the 31,251 new cars registered in Ireland last month, 13.8 per cent (4,309 ) were Toyotas, making it the country’s number one brand in January. The Corolla Hybrid was also the best selling car in January 2020, and 85.6 per cent of all Toyota cars sold last month were self-charging hybrids.
The SIMI review highlights that the Irish economy is expected to perform strongly in 2020. This should be supportive of consumer spending. However, the Irish consumer is still behaving in a relatively cautious manner. Personal spending power remains under pressure from increasingly expensive big-ticket spending items such as rents, mortgage repayment, health insurance and dwelling insurance. Apart from the economic aspects, there are a number of non-economic factors likely to be influential in 2020.
Commenting on the new vehicle registrations figures, Brian Cooke, SIMI director general, said: “January is the most important selling month for new cars. In this regard, it is very disappointing to see a reduction in new car sales compared to January last year, the fourth consecutive year in which there has been a fall. On a more positive note, there has been a reduction of nearly six per cent in the average CO2 emissions from new cars registered in January, underlining the industry’s commitment to reducing emissions from new cars.”
