Ireland: 1972-2023 Historical Data now available
The Ford Escort was #1 in Ireland in 1974
18/04/2024 update: Now with brands data for 1972 (1 new article).
20/08/2019 update: Now with information for 1983 and 1985 (2 new articles).
18/07/2019 update: Now with an annual All-brands ranking from 1990 to 2000 (7 new articles).
The direct links to 32 Historical Data articles are below.
Thanks to British Leyland Chronicles I am now able to share with you the best-selling models in Ireland in 1974. At the time the Ford Escort and Cortina were the best-seller… The Ford Fiesta then led in 1983, 1985 and 1996, the Opel Astra was king of Ireland in 1993 and 1994 before the Fiat Punto took control from 1998 to 2000.
The Ford Focus was #1 in Ireland 10 times between 2001 and 2012
The Ford Focus then started a decade-long domination, topping the Irish models ranking from 2001 to 2012, only interrupted twice: by the Toyota Corolla in 2004 and the Renault Megane in 2010. Then the VW Golf took the lead for the very first time in 2013, stayed on top for three years before being overthrown by the Hyundai Tucson from 2016 to 2018, the very first Korean model to top Irish sales. It would also be #1 in 2021, 2022 and 2023 while the Toyota Corolla reclaimed the lead in 2019 and 2020.
Ireland Historical Data:
Ireland 1972: Ford and Fiat dominate, Beetle at its highest
Ireland 1974: Ford Escort and Cortina lead, 3 Fiats in Top 7
Ireland 1983: Ford Fiesta and Toyota Corolla on top
Ireland 1985: Ford Fiesta #1, Toyota places 3 models in Top 5
Ireland 1990: Toyota best-seller ahead of Ford and Opel
Ireland 1991: Nissan (+2.1%) survives in market down -16.6%
Ireland 1992: Ford (+3.5%) advances past Toyota (-5%)
Ireland 1993: Toyota back on top, Opel Astra best-seller
Ireland 1994: Ford and Opel top market up 25.3%
Ireland 1995: Ford remains #1, Fiat up 31.7% in market up 8.1%
Ireland 1996: Opel and Ford Fiesta take the lead
Ireland 1997: Ford and VW in charge in market up 18.7%
Ireland 1998: Fiat Punto dominates, Toyota #1 brand
Ireland 1999: Ford back to #1, Fiat Punto best-seller again
Ireland 2000: Fiat Punto 3peats at #1, Daewoo in Top 10
Ireland 2001-2003: Focus, Almera and Corolla on top
Ireland 2004: Toyota Corolla interrupts Ford Focus reign
Ireland 2005-2006: Ford Focus reclaims #1 spot
Ireland 2007: Focus, Avensis & Corolla on podium
Ireland 2008: Focus, Corolla & Mondeo dominate
Ireland 2009: Focus #1 in market down 64%
Ireland 2010: Renault Megane best-seller, ahead of Golf and Focus
Ireland 2011: Ford Focus reclaims pole position
Ireland 2012: Ford Focus retains crown
Ireland 2013: VW Golf best-seller for the first time
Ireland 2014: VW Golf leads, Toyota Corolla up to #5
Ireland 2015: VW Golf and Ford Focus in the lead
Ireland 2016: Hyundai Tucson signs historical win
Ireland 2017: Volkswagen back to #1, Hyundai Tucson repeats
Ireland 2018: Hyundai Tucson snaps last minute third crown in a row
Ireland 2019: Toyota Corolla grabs first win in 15 years in third straight market decline
Ireland 2020: Toyota Corolla repeats at #1, VW ID.3 wins two months in market down -24.6%
Ireland 2021: Hyundai Tucson reclaims top spot, Toyota topples VW in market up 18.5%
Ireland 2022: Hyundai Tucson repeats at #1 in stable market (+0.3%)
Ireland 2023: Hyundai Tucson threepeats at #1, Kia Sportage #2
This Post Has 6 Comments
https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ieu50/irelandandtheeuat50/society/carmakes/ Top 10 car makes 1972
https://autoslinky.com/ie/county.php?year=1987 1987-1989 brand figures
Hi Matt, I noticed that you do not have historical data for Singapore.
Here is the brands data for cars sold in Singapore between 2002 and 2013 ; http://media.straitstimes.com/coe1/annual_registration.html
Cheers, and as always, please keep up the great work ! 😀
The Focus was always a serious case of success!!
Sadly it seems to be the same all over Europe, at one time here in the UK they used to have a model fairly regularly in the top 10, if it wasn’t for the 500 (which is the tenth best seller so far this year), Fiat’s UK sales would be negligible, it is a shame because the Panda is an excellent city car, the problem is that they are weak in two very important segments, the supermini one (the Punto is getting old) and the small family car one (the Bravo is mediocre)
What did Fiat do wrong to go from hero to zero so quickly in Ireland? In the 90’s they had a top selling model with the Punto and now they often have not one model in the top 50!