Silver stays tops but black is back

New Irish passenger car registrations for the first ten days of January are down 21.7 per cent on last year. 

That represents a fall of 1851 sales on the corresponding period in January 2012, according to new Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) figures.

Silver/Aluminium held the top spot with 1,461 of the new cars registered (or 21.87 per cent) opting for it as their colour of choice. But black is back with 1,405 cars (21.03%) having the original adorn their motors. Grey is the third most popular with 1,284 (19.22%). If you add fouth placed Blue with 712 (10.66%) and Red/Maroon in fifth with 697 (10.43%), the top five account for a massive 83.21 per cent of all new cars registered in Ireland in the first ten days of January 2013.

Back to the figures and we should remember that there was also one more full working week day in the first ten days of this January this year compared to the similar period last year, and two more than that period in 2011.

There was 6,680 new cars registered in the first ten days of this month compared to 8,531 in that period in January 2012, which itself was up by 26.9 per cent on the similar period in 2011. That leaves new car sales starting out at about similar levels to January 2011, albeit with two less working week days two years ago.

Toyota is the top selling make with 870 cars registered representing a market share of 13.02 per cent. It also held a clear lead at the this stage last year with 1,620 units registered (18.99%). Hyundai have jumped in to second place with with 790 registrations (11.83%), followed by Ford with 636 (9.52%) tied with Volkswagen with 636 (9.53%).

The Toyota Avensis is the biggest selling car in the first ten days, followed by the Volkswagen Golf. And 5,001 of the new cars registered in the ten days were diesel engined cars. That represents a massive 74.87 per cent market share or three of every four new cars. Another interesting figure is that 92.9 per cent of new cars registered were in the CO2 Bands A (4,081 or 61.09%) and B (2,125 or 31.81%).

The new van/LCV market for the first ten days of January 2013 shows a rise of 51 units (or 7.3%) to 750 on a similar period last year, which itself was a rise of 29.9 per cent on that period in 2011. Volkswagen lead this market with 141 registrations (or 18.8% market share), followed closely by Ford with 134 (or 17.87%). This represents a role reversal on this period last year when for Ford was ahead with 159  followed by Volkswagen with 132.

The Volkswagen Caddy van is market leader after ten days with 94 registrations and 12.53% market share. It is followed in second place by the Ford Transit Van 61 registrations ( and 8.13% share). According to the figures almost a third of LCVs registered were in the 3,001 Kg plus GVW weight band.

Heavy commercial vehicle (HCV) sales at 99 in the first ten days of this month is down on the 150 new HCVs registered in the similar period last year. However, it is compares well with the 68 HCVs registered in the first 10 days of January 2011. Volvo Commercials lead the 2013 market with 33 registrations or 33.33 per cent market share, followed by DAF with 18 (18.18%). In the similar period in January 2012, Volvo registered 53 units, followed by MAN with 24.

In line with reports on exports continuing to do well it appears that sales of bigger tractor units with GVW weight band over 17,001 kg. dominating sales in this sector.

I’m not a great believer in early ten day figures. The real cumulative (year-to-date) figures on the 11th day of March is the one that really tells the true position. With the uncertainty surrounding Government Budgets each December, it damages what should be good pre-selling period in November and December and the months of January, February and early March really fill out the new car sales picture.

It is however a positive sign to see van and LCV sales rising and let us hope that despite all the austerity and Government inaction, small and medium businesses are showing resilience and hopefully will kick-on from here.