New car registrations in April were up 10 per cent on last year, with sales of 10,408 for the month. It brings the total so far this year to 93,240, an increase of 26 per cent on the first four months of 2015.
Toyota remains the best-selling brand with 9,946 registrations, closely followed by Hyundai with 9,823. Just 10 registrations behind is Volkswagen with 9,813, as the German brand seeks to recover from its diesel emissions scandal. In fourth place is Ford with 9,312. It is becoming one of the most competitive battles for market share since before the recession.
Citroen remains the only brand to record a decline in sales compared to 2015. In the premium sector, Audi is in the lead with 3,216 registrations, ahead of BMW with 3,216 and Mercedes-Benz with 2,261.
Best selling model
The best selling model remains the Hyundai Tucson with sales of 4,818, followed by the VW Golf with 3,325 and the Ford Focus with 3,111. In the premium sector, the best-selling car is the BMW 5 Series with 940 registrations, ahead of the Audi A4 with 909. At the luxury end of the market eight BMW i8 sports cars have been registered, along with four Tesla Model S. The newly introduced Ford Mustang is also doing relatively well, with 27 registrations.
Diesel remains the preferred engine option, representing 70 per cent of sales, followed by petrol with just under 28 per cent. Electric car sales are actually down on last year, with just 273 registrations so far this year, compared to 286 over the same four month period last year. However, there has been a surge in the popularity of hybrids, up from 738 in the first four months of 2015 to 1,470 so far this year.
County sales
In terms of a regional breakdown, every county is recording increased sales this year, with Roscommon recording a 40.7 per cent pick up to 958 registrations. Dublin remains the largest market with 34,881 sales, up 23 per cent, while Cork is second with 12,163 sales, up 32 per cent. The lowest growth in new car sales this year has been recorded in Leitrim, with sales of 409, up 15.9 per cent.
