What's the news?
According to new data from Cartell.ie diesel power still accounts for the biggest chunk of cars being imported into Ireland in 2018, but there has been a significant spike in the number of hybrid and electric cars coming in from the UK.
In fact, hybrid imports have jumped by 193 per cent, and electric car imports have gone up by 148 per cent, but these are from very low bases. Hybrid imports expanded from 1,810 in 2017, to 3,502 this year (while plug-in hybrids have gone from 130 to 803), and electric cars have gone up from 357 in 2017 to 529 this year.
Those numbers, though, are dwarfed by petrol and diesel cars. Petrol car imports rose from 16,181 in 2017 to 17,207 so far this year, while diesels went from 71,483 last year, to 74,042 this. That's a somewhat surprising rise, in a year when many Irish new car buyers have been moving away from diesel and back towards petrol. One explanation may be in the temptingly low prices being offered on diesel cars in the UK - the market there has seen a similar precipitous drop in new diesel sales, and many nearly-new and pre-registered diesel cars have effectively been dumped on the second hand market at knock-down prices.
Most of the imported cars are three-to-four years old, with just over 17,400 cars each with 2014 and 2015 registrations being imported so far this year. A mere 6,901 year old cars from 2017 were imported, almost neck-and neck with the figure of much older 2011 cars being brought in.
The most popular market segment, by far, remains the c-segment family hatchback, which accounted for 18,523 cars imported. Next up is d-segment saloons, such as the Volkswagen Passat and Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, with 9,012 cars, then SUVs with 7,967 imported. B-segment superminis were the next category in line, followed by e-segment and d-segment 'premium' models such as the BMW 5 Series and Audi A4.
Ford topped the imports list, with 11,990 cars imported, and 4,124 of those were Focus models. Volkswagen is in second place in brand terms, with 10,583 imports while the Golf is the most-imported individual model - 4,356 of them were brought in. Audi is in third place, with 6,662 imports, then Toyota on 6,578, BMW on 6,202, Hyundai on 5,406, and Mercedes-Benz on 5,254.
Behind the Golf and the Focus at the top of the individual models table were the Nissan Qashqai, with 2,459 imports, the Volkswagen Passat on 2,409, and the BMW 520d on 2,254.
John Byrne, General Counsel, at Cartell.ie said: "This snapshot of the Irish markets shows the Irish buyer is especially keen to import a diesel vehicle, usually a three or four-year-old and often a Focus, Golf, or Qashqai - models which have been consistently popular in the domestic market. The jump in the numbers of Electric Vehicles and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles being imported shows that buyers of those types of vehicles can see the value of importing and also points to a growth in the market for those vehicle types. Overall we would see imports remaining strong until at least the due date for Brexit next in March 2019."