Ireland January 2019: Hyundai and Tucson lead, Skoda and Peugeot up in market down 12.9%

The Karoq (+137.5%) helps Skoda up 3.5% in January in Ireland.

January is traditionally the strongest month of the year in Ireland as it corresponds to a bi-annual license plate change. Irish license plate feature the year of registration. But this year is off to a wobbly start, with new car sales down a steep -12.9% to just 32.303, a bad presage for the annual score as January traditionally accounts for 30% of annual sales in the country.  Hyundai (-3.3%) manages the smallest decline in the Top 5 and takes the brands lead as a result with 11.8% share vs. 9.3% in FY2018, distancing 2018 leader Volkswagen (-10.3%), Ford (-15.7%), Toyota (-35.9%) and Nissan (-8.3%). Skoda (+3.5%) and Peugeot (+1.6%) are the only Top 10 carmakers in positive, while Renault (-4.8%) and Opel (-10.3%) fall slower tham the market and Kia (-13.4%) roughly matches it. Further down, Mitsubishi (+20.4%), Land Rover (+19.4%), Honda (+16.7%), Volvo (+12.7%), Tesla (+8.3%), Jeep (+7.1%) and Seat (+7%) all impress with strong gains.

The Irish best-seller fo the past 3 years, the Hyundai Tucson (-6.4%) is headed the same way in 2019 with January sales over 300 units above any other nameplate in market. The Nissan Qashqai (-15.3%) and Ford Focus (-14.9%) complete the podium but drop faster than the market, whereas just below the Toyota Yaris (+1.6%), Skoda Octavia (-0.2%), Toyota C-HR (+1.8%) and VW Tiguan (+6.5%) resist particularly well. Notice also the Nissan Leaf (+444.4%), Skoda Karoq (+137.5%), VW T-Roc (+130.7%), Seat Arona (+90.2%), Audi A6 (+81.4%), Nissan X-Trail (+67.4%), Renault Clio (+46.5%), Skoda Kodiaq (+45.4%), Hyundai Kona (+30.3%), Dacia Duster (+29.1%) and Peugeot 3008 (+17.4%) all posting fantastic gains in the Top 40.

Previous post: Ireland Full Year 2018: Hyundai Tucson snaps last minute third crown in a row in market down 4.4%

One year ago: Ireland January 2018: Peugeot soars 70% in market down 4.9%

Full January 2019 Top 35 All-brands and Top 230 All-models below.