Ireland January 2015: VW Golf holds onto #1 in market up 31%

The Nissan Pulsar is inside the Irish Top 20 in January.

* See the Top 50 best-selling models and Top 34 All-brands by clicking on the title *

Ireland is the most time-sensitive new car market in the world, with January – when new licence plates are issued – traditionally accounting for roughly 25% of all annual sales. It’s a critical month for any manufacturer that wants to make a mark in Ireland, and after gaining 33% in January 2014, the Irish market improves by a further 31% this year to 29,924 registrations. #2 in 2014, Toyota (+38%) takes a big step towards the 2015 #1 ranking by frankly outselling Volkswagen (+20%) with 3,865 units for a 12.9% market share vs. 3,219 and 10.8% for the German manufacturer, even threatened for 2nd place by Ford at 3,128 sales and 10.3%. Nissan is up a huge 91% in 5th place, Renault is up 61%, Mercedes up 45%, Citroen up 44% and Mini up 79%.

Ireland is one of the last countries in the world to buy the Hyundai i40 in large numbers.

In the models sales charts, the VW Golf (+35%) and Ford Focus (+44%) outsmart the market to take the Top 2 spots, with the Toyota Corolla (+18%) rounding out the podium. Outstanding result of the Hyundai ix35 inside the Top 5 this month thanks to 880 sales and 2.9% share and of the Nissan Pulsar already in the Top 20 during the biggest month of the year only months after its launch. Other big gainers in January in Ireland include – from top to bottom of the ranking – the Renault Clio (+74%), Hyundai i40 (+57%), Toyota RAV4 (+180%), VW Polo (+65%), Ford Mondeo (+114%), Renault Captur (+78%), Fluence (+59%), Hyundai Santa Fe (+2231%), Dacia Sandero (+89%), Hyundai i10 (+104%) and the Peugeot 2008 (+73%) now outselling the 208.

Previous post: Ireland Full Year 2014: VW Golf leads, Toyota Corolla up to #5

One year ago: Ireland January 2014: Toyota Corolla up to #2 in market up 33%

Full January 2015 Top 50 models and Top 34 All-brands below.