The global headlines for Volkswagen may not have been the best in 2024, but in Ireland, Volkswagen Group Ireland was actually celebrating a record year.
The Group - made up of Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, SEAT, Cupra, and Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles - saw a five per cent growth in vehicle deliveries against the backdrop of a one per cent drop in the Irish passenger car market.
VW Group nabs a 29 per cent market share
In total, VW Group Ireland delivered 39,178 new vehicles and secured a 29.6 per cent overall market share. Volkswagen itself finished in second place overall when it came to the top-selling car brands, beaten only by Toyota, while Skoda lifted itself to a hugely impressive third place overall, buoyed by significant sales for both the Octavia saloon and the Kodiaq SUV. Indeed, Skoda Ireland’s final 10.1 per cent market share of the passenger car market means it has a higher market share in Ireland than in any other Western European nation.
Audi also finished on top of the premium brand market and has several significant launches coming up this year, including the all-electric A6 e-tron, the new hybrid-powered A7, a new Q5 and Q5 Sportback with long-range PHEV models, and an all-new Q3, which is the brand’s biggest seller globally.
Skoda shines
Skoda’s performance outshone even that, with a massive 20 per cent increase in sales compared to 2023. Cupra did less well, with its sales falling by 17 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023. Head of Brand, Gaspar Alcaide, put much of that down to the late arrival of facelifted models such as the updated Leon and Formentor and the equally delayed arrival of all-new cars such as the electric Tavascan (which is made in China, and for which Alcaide confirmed to CompleteCar that VW Group would absorb the cost of the EU’s costly Chinese EV tariffs) and the Terramar SUV.
Cupra’s sister brand, SEAT, saw a 4.8 per cent bump in sales last year, so rumours of its total demise could be wide of the mark. Updated versions of the Ibiza hatchback and Arona compact crossover are due later this year, as are long-EV-range PHEV models of the Leon hatchback and Alcaide confirming that the future of SEAT is still being planned out. Alcaide told CompleteCar that while the focus had, recently, been very much focused on establishing Cupra as a new brand, SEAT was now getting some more marketing budget. Equally, back in Barcelona, more investment in current and potential future Seat models is being ramped up.
New Transporter
Volkswagen’s van arm also posted solid results, although they were hampered by the gap between the final sales of the old T6 Transporter and the newly arrived model (complete with Jason Statham’s seal of approval…). VWCV has finally ironed out the VRT issue, which hampered electric ID. Buzz sales and that car now qualifies for the lowest €200 rate of commercial VRT, dropping its price considerably to €51,350 after grants, making it cheaper than the incoming electric version of the new Transporter (which will cost €53,695).
Speaking of electric vehicles, VW Group Ireland may have just lost the top-selling individual EV model spot to Tesla, but the Group overall scored an almost 25 per cent market share in Ireland’s deflated market for electric models. Now, the challenge moves to marketing used EVs as the first ID.4s and ID.3s are returning to dealers at the end of their first ownership periods.
EV battery health and replacement costs
VW Ireland has confirmed that for used EV sales, it will give each car a battery health check and provide that data to any interested buyer, with the possibility of an extension to the car’s original battery warranty in the offing. For now, VW claims that its cars’ batteries are lasting far longer and far better than anyone initially expected. The lowest battery capacity recorded was for a pair of high-mileage ID.4s - one of which had been used as a taxi, the other of which had been charged repeatedly on rapid DC chargers - and both had a remaining battery charge level of 91 per cent.
Further to that, VW Ireland’s servicing and after-sales boss Robert Guy confirmed that out of the 21,000 electric cars which the group has sold since EVs made their first foray onto the Irish market, only four complete battery packs have needed replacing, and at least one of those was down to accident damage rather than any battery-specific issue. Guy further told us that the current cost of a battery module replacement is around €1,200 — EV models may have between 12 and 20 such modules, depending on the car — and that price continues to fall as batteries become cheaper.
Volkswagen Ireland also noted that in 2024, it achieved more than € 100 million in after-sales and servicing revenue and that the majority of its customers gave it a five-star rating.
Finally, 2025 will be a year of anniversaries. It’s Skoda’s 130th birthday — making it the fourth-oldest continuously operating car brand — and SEAT’s 75th anniversary. More significantly, for us, it’s also the 75th birthday of Volkswagen’s operations in Ireland. In May 1950, a 25hp Volkswagen Beetle, finished in dark green, was assembled on the Shelbourne Road in Dublin, making it not only the first Beetle to be built in Ireland but the first Beetle to be built outside of Germany. That car not only still exists, but it’s part of VW’s vast Autostadt museum in Wolfsburg, and it has been returned to Ireland — literally encased in bubble wrap — to make a series of appearances at events during the course of 2025.
You can find out more about that legendary Beetle in this video: