Preliminary figures from the Motorcheck.ie Car Index show that Renault is on the verge of scoring a hat trick in the Irish market.
Figures for October indicate that Renault will be the number one selling manufacturer for the month. With 916 registrations recorded to date, a massive 465 ahead of Toyota (with 403 registrations), it's very possible that the manufacturer will break the 1,000 threshold. That hasn't been done since March of this year.
The statistics show that Renault is currently dominating the top ten model list with an unprecedented first, second and third place finish guaranteed.
The Renault Fluence is currently placed at number one with 328 registrations, the Mégane occupies second place with 275 units and the Clio follows closely in third position with 271. Fourth place goes to Volkswagen with 153 registrations for its Golf.
Commenting on the results, Motorcheck.ie Director Shane Teskey said "Renault started 2010 with a strategy aimed squarely at volume sales. They introduced competitive pricing across the entire range and were the first to introduce a market leading scrappage offer. This 'value for money' approach coupled with a desirable range of new models is working well for the company and I wouldn't be surprised if Renault ended up being the best selling manufacturer for 2010".
Whilst the current statistics for October indicate that the month will show a significant percentage increase on 2009 (over 70 percent), Motorcheck.ie does not expect the overall total for the year to exceed 100,000.
Now preparing for 2011, members of the motor industry are calling on the Government to extend the hugely successful scrappage scheme that it claims has saved thousands of jobs and raised an additional €74 million for the Exchequer.