Ireland's economy benefits greatly from the automotive industry, with more than €1 billion estimated to be collected from car sales by Revenue last year. Combine this with general motoring taxes, and it's estimated that a grand total of €6 billion is pumped into the reserves every year.
To celebrate the industry and its contribution, the Clayton Hotel in Dublin recently played host to the SIMI Awards, an annual ceremony held by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry to celebrate the best of Ireland's motor trade.
The SIMI Awards presented prizes to businesses operating in five categories, while an audience of more than 700 Irish motor industry professionals were present.
The awards were hosted by actor Simon Delaney, with the prizes presented by SIMI Director General Brian Cooke, and John Feeney of Bank of Ireland Finance. An independent panel of adjudicators was responsible for picking the award winners, all of which were said to have demonstrated "an award-winning level of excellence and best practice over the last 12 months".
Five category awards
SIMI President Paddy Magee commended all of the shortlisted companies in each category, while the winners for 2024 included Denning's Cars Ltd of Dublin (Bodyshop of the Year); Co. Westmeath's Hamill Rental Ltd (Vehicle Recovery Operator of the Year); Autopoint Motor Group, Co. Kerry (Independent Retailer Operation of the Year); Toyota Naas, Co. Kildare (Franchised Aftersales Operation of the Year); and Western Motors Drogheda, Co. Louth (Franchise Sales Operation of the Year).
Before the prize giving, President of SIMI Paddy Magee praised the resilience and adaptability of the industry during what has been a challenging time, and he also praised its commitment to achieving climate change targets.
ZEVI in attendance
"Manufacturers and retailers have worked diligently to grow the EV market, with over 70 different new electric models now available, demonstrating the dedication to consumers and the investment by the industry in the electric vehicle transition," Mr. Magee remarked. "While we accept that incentives cannot continue indefinitely, it is still too premature to start phasing supports. The Government has been generous in its supports of EVs to date; it is simply imperative that this Government commitment is maintained as we move to the next cohort of potential EV buyers."
The Society warmly welcomed the presence of Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland (ZEVI), who announced the winners of the ZEVI EV Dealership of the Year regional awards. These awards recognise and reward excellence in the promotion and sale of electric vehicles (EVs) in Ireland. The winners were Fitzpatrick's Garage Kildare Ltd in Kildare for Leinster, Fermoy Nissan in Cork for Munster, Western Motors Ltd in Galway for Connaught and Connolly's Volkswagen Letterkenny for Ulster.