SIMI has released its final registration figures for 2021 and, out of the 104,392 cars registered in total, the model which came out on top was the Hyundai Tucson.
Toyota was Ireland's best-selling brand in 2021 with three of its models - the Corolla, Yaris and CH-R - making it into the top five best-selling cars in Ireland alongside the Tucson and Volkswagen Tiguan. Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda and Ford respectively formed the rest of the top five.
While the 2021 registration figures indicate a 19 per cent increase on 2020, it is perhaps more realistic to compare them with those from 2019, the last full year unaffected by the Covid pandemic; compared to 2019, the 2021 registration numbers are down by 10.4 per cent.
Electric sales skyrocket
Notable is the rise in the number of electric cars registered. While diesel remains the dominant engine type in Ireland with 33.4 per cent of the market (down by eight per cent on 2020), electric cars outsold plug-in hybrid vehicles by a small margin of 8.24 per cent versus 7.26 per cent. The best-selling electric car in Ireland in 2021 was the Volkswagen ID.4. The 8,646 electric cars sold marks a 115.4 per cent increase on 2020 and a 280.6 per cent rise on 2019.
Petrol cars made up 32.16 per cent of sales, while hybrids (not including plug-in hybrids) constituted 16.22 per cent.
2021 saw close to an even split between sales of manual and automatic cars with manuals remaining slightly out in front with 50.95 per cent of the market compared to 48.93 per cent for automatics. Grey and black were the two best-selling colours, the former having retained its crown for six years running.
Imports down
The number of cars being imported continues to fall, likely due to a combination of Brexit, changes to the VAT and VRT regime and the relative paucity and expense of secondhand cars on the UK market. 63,617 cars were imported in 2021, a fall of 20.4 per cent compared to 2020 and a massive 44.2 per cent drop on 2019.
Perhaps indicative of our changed pandemic shopping habits, the 28,741 vans registered was 4.3 per cent higher than 2020 and a significant 79.4 per cent increase on 2019.
Bad news for Leitrim
All counties with the exception of Leitrim saw a rise in the number of cars sold in 2021. Dublin, naturally enough, recorded the highest number of registrations (43,756) followed by Cork (12,347) and Kildare (4,489). The highest percentage increase compared to 2020 was seen in Waterford (28.62 per cent), followed by Dublin and Westmeath with rises of 27.9 per cent and 21.49 per cent respectively. Compared to 2020, the 390 cars sold in Leitrim in 2021 marked a fall in sales of 1.76 per cent (or, in other words, seven cars).
Comment
Commenting on the numbers, Brian Cooke, SIMI's Director General, Brian Cooke, said:
"The difficulties arising from both Covid and Brexit impacted on the supply and demand for cars, which made 2021 another challenging year for the Irish Motor Industry. While new car sales show a 19 per cent increase on 2020, they remain behind 2019 levels. On a positive note, the sale of Electric Vehicles (EVs) more than doubled in 2021, and with the sale of EVs being underpinned by SEAI Grants, we can expect to see an increasing number of new EVs on Irish roads in 2022. Commercial Vehicles sales also saw a significant improvement in 2021, with light commercial vehicles up over 30 per cent on 2020, reflecting the increase in business confidence as the year progressed."
"The industry is hopeful," he said, "that 2022 will see further improvements in business levels. Pre-orders do indicate a strong appetite for new and used cars, providing a positive outlook for our Industry and with a return to pre-pandemic 2019 new car sales levels expected. However, even these anticipated sales will not be sufficient to reduce Ireland's ageing car fleet. We need to see significant growth in the years ahead if we want to optimise the benefits of reduced emissions from new cars. We will see annual increases in Electric Vehicle sales, but the extent of their penetration into the fleet will not only be determined by the increased choice of EVs been supplied but also by the continuation of Government supports."
Toyota Ireland was understandably pleased with the figures, the company's CEO, Steve Tormey, saying:
"It's really heartening to see the continued growth in low emission, electrified car ownership in Ireland, as we move ever closer to a world where CO2 emissions will be a thing of the past. We look forward to another successful year in 2022 and are especially excited for the arrival of our first zero-emission full battery electric car in June, the bZ4X. With our focus on deriving as much power efficiency from batteries as possible, something we have been refining for thirty years, the arrival of the bZ4X will mark another exciting chapter in the Toyota story."