THE SOCIETY OF the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) in association with DoneDeal has published its latest statistics on new car registrations. Finally there is some good news for the industry – as new car registrations were up slightly for the month of April 2018, when compared to April 2017.

The official SIMI statistics show that the total new car registrations for the month of April were up 3.33 per cent (8,102) when compared to April 2017 (7,841). However, new cars registrations year to date remain down 4.68 per cent (79,897) on the same period last year (83,823).

New Light Commercial Vehicle registrations (LCV) were also up in April, 6.51 per cent (1,800) on April 2017 (1,690) and year to date are up 5.39 per cent (14,323). LCV registrations are usually a sign of how well the overall economy is doing.

New Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HGV) are also up 4.74 per cent for the month of April (243) compared to the same month last year (232) but overall are down 8.31 per cent (1,158) year to date.

Imported used cars increased 19.31 per cent for April 2018 (8,649 units) compared to April 2017 (7,249 registrations) and year to date are 11.74 per cent up on 2017, at 34,763 units compared to 31,111.

Commenting on the figures SIMI Deputy Director General, Brian Cooke said:

April’s registration statistics released today are broadly in line with expectations. The slight increases in all sectors for the month can be attributed somewhat to the extra working days in April 2018 compared to last year, as Easter fell in March. Brexit continues to impact on business, as evidenced by the continued strong levels of used imports from the UK. Total new car registrations are projected to reach around 120,000 by the end of the year, a decline of 8.6% on 2017.

Of the cars we are buying, the top five brands year to date are: 

1. Volkswagen
2. Hyundai
3. Toyota
4. Ford
5. Nissan

And the top five models are:

1. Nissan Qashqai
2. Hyundai Tucson
3. Volkswagen Golf
4. Ford Focus
5. Skoda Octavia

The top selling car in April 2018 was the Volkswagen Polo.

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