Ireland November 2012: Toyota Auris #1, Skoda+Seat newbies up

Toyota Auris

* See the Top 50 best-selling models and All-brands ranking by clicking on the title! *

Irish licence plates are stamped with the year of registration, impacting new car sales in the country which are at their strongest in January and slip down to minuscule numbers towards the end of the year. And November follows the trend with just 883 registrations, down from 1,657 in October and 2,487 in September but up 6% year-on-year compared to October 2011, bringing the year-to-date total to 78,286 units, down 12% on 2011.

Skoda Rapid

In this context, the Toyota Auris leads the market in November with 40 sales and 4.5% ahead of the Opel Insignia at 39 units and the VW Passat at 38. The Ford Focus is still by far the 2012 year-to-date leader with 3,690 sales and 4.7% followed by the VW Golf at 3,369 units and 4.3%. They rank #4 and #5 respectively in November. The Skoda Octavia, #1 in October, is down to #6 while the BMW 3 Series is strong at #7.

Seat Toledo

A few recent launches from the Volkswagen Group make themselves noticed this month in Ireland: the Skoda Citigo is up 14 spots to #13 with 18 sales and 2%, the Skoda Rapid is up 82 to #14 with 17 units and 1.9%, the Seat Mii is up 60 to #17 with 15 sales and 1.7% and the Seat Toledo lands directly at #20 for its first month of sales in the country with 13 units and 1.5%. Feeble monthly levels characteristic to Irish end of years mean these model are far down the ranking year-to-date but these performances are encouraging for 2013…

Jaguar sales are up 61% this year in Ireland

There is now an All-brands ranking available for January-November 2012, and a big change this year since Volkswagen now leads the way with 10,026 sales and 12.7% share, passing Toyota now #2 at 9,912 units and 12.5%. Ford stays third with 8,526 sales and 10.8% (-19%), Nissan is up one spot to #4 at 6,070 units (-10%) while Renault is down one to #5 with 5,255 sales (-39%). Hyundai delivers the biggest improvement in the Top 20: +31% to #6 at 5,236 units, with Skoda up 9%, Audi up 7%, BMW stable, Kia up 15% and Honda up 11%. Jaguar is up a massive 61% at #25, Chrysler is up 505% at #28 and Porsche up 467% at #30…

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Previous month: Ireland October 2012: Skoda Octavia and Kia Cee’d up

One year ago: Ireland November 2011: Army orders boost Mitsubishi Pajero sales

Full November Top 20, Year-to-date 2012 Top 50 models and All-brands Ranking Tables below.