The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has released the final registration figures for January 2015 and the results are positive in comparison to the same period in 2014. Even with the introduction of a second registration period, mid-way through the year in 2013, January remains the most important month for the industry for new car registrations. In total, 29,948 new cars were registered last month, an increase of 30.82 per cent over the same period in 2014.
Coming out on top was Toyota, which registered 3,866 cars - a 38.42 per cent improvement on its January 2014 performance - seeing its overall market share grow slightly from 12.2 per cent to 12.91 per cent. In second position was Volkswagen, which registered 3,219 cars and although its overall market share decreased by just under one per cent its number of new registrations grew by 20.79 per cent year-on-year.
Ford occupied third position in the January registration charts, coming in very closely behind Volkswagen - by just 90 cars in fact. Its year-on-year improvement of 38 per cent has been buoyed by the recent introduction of new Focus and Mondeo models. Following closely behind Ford is Hyundai, which registered 2,941 new cars, giving the Korean brand a 26.8 per cent growth compared with 2014.
The most improved brand in 2015 so far is Nissan. With 2,209 new cars registered it ranked as the fifth most popular make in January, but, more impressively, it saw a 92.59 per cent improvement over its January 2014 results.
In terms of models registered, it was the Volkswagen Golf that proved to be the most popular new car with 1,549 units. The Ford Focus finished in second place with 1,238 units, while the Toyota Corolla came in third with 1,025 new unit registrations.
Anything else?
Delving deeper into the registrations figures revealed some interesting results. The overall biggest improvement of any single model was the Hyundai Santa Fe, which saw 303 units registered - a 2,230 per cent year-on-year increase. This is mainly a result of Hyundai securing a larger allocation of vehicles for the Irish market.
Sales of more luxury cars have also seen healthy increases in numbers of units registered. The new Mercedes-Benz C-Class saw 173 units registered, up 127.6 per cent year-on-year. The BMW X5, the largest of the company's SUVs, saw 145 units registered in January in comparison to 52 in January 2014. Further proving the popularity of SUVs was the registration of 51 BMW X3s, representing an increase of 264 per cent, while the new X4 had 32 registrations. The German brand also saw its electric i brand get off to a good start in 2015 with four i3s and two i8s registered.
Rival firm Audi's new TT sports car got out of the blocks with 17 cars sold, while some 35 Audi A7 Sportbacks were also registered - up 169 per cent year-on-year. The ageing A4 saloon still managed a 34.5 per cent increase in registrations with 249 units for January.