Ireland March 2019: Toyota Corolla snaps lead, market decline thins to -6%

The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling vehicle in Ireland in March.

The Irish new car market has managed to contain its year-on-year decline into the single-digits for the first time this year with March deliveries down 6% to 16.696, leading to a Q1 tally down -10.8% to 64.042. Volkswagen (-9.2%) is in difficulty but retains the brands top spot above Toyota (+23.1%) and Ford (+6.9%) both bucking the market trend with solid gains. Audi (+12.7%), Skoda (+7.9%) and Kia (+0.8%) also shine in the Top 10 where Nissan (-28.5%), Renault (-21.4%) and BMW (-13.2%) struggle. Further down, Mini (+97.1%), Jeep (+68.8%), Dacia (+49.5%), Porsche (+28.6%), Suzuki (+17%), Mitsubishi (+12.8%) and Fiat (+10%) are among the biggest gainers. Model-wise, now that the hatch replacing the Toyota Auris is also called Corolla, the Toyota Corolla (+315.2%) shoots up to the top of the leaderboard in Ireland and is up to #7 YTD. The Nissan Qashqai (-37.6%) gains 4 spots on February to #2 despite a ghastly year-on-year drop, distancing the Ford Focus (+24.2%), Hyundai Tucson (+5.1%) and Nissan Micra (+5.6%) all swimming upstream with sturdy gains in a depleted market. The Seat Tarraco (#87) tops recent launches (<12 months).

Previous month: Ireland February 2019: VW Tiguan and Hyundai Kona top market down 11.3%

One year ago: Ireland March 2018: Nissan Qashqai snaps YTD lead in market down 10.7%

Full March 2019 Top 35 All-brands and Top 225 All-models below.