New car sales fell by 1 per cent over the first 10 days of the new 172 registration plate period, compared to the same period last year.
Unofficial figures show 14,863 new cars were registered since the start of the month, with Hyundai the best-selling brand with 1,870 sales, followed by Volkswgen with 1,415 and Toyota with 1,511.
It brings the total new car sales for the year to date to 106,047. For the year to date, VW has the lead with 10,635 registrations, ahead of Hyundi with 10,454 and Toyota with 10,411. The best-selling model remains the Hyundai Tucson, underlining the popularity of so-called crossovers among Irish car buyers.
However, the sales figures include substantial numbers of car hire registrations. These cars are returned to the market later in the year as low-mileage used vehicles. Nissan tops the car hire segment so far this year, with 2,345 registrations, followed by Renault with 2,176, and Volkswagen with 2,101. Car hire registrations in the first 10 days of this month were 4,281, up from 3,511 in the same period last year.
