Ireland March 2023: Nissan Qashqai snaps first #1 spot in 4.5 years, market up 36.8%

The Nissan Qashqai leads the Irish models charts in March.

New car sales in Ireland shoot up 36.8% year-on-year in March to 17,661 units. The Q1 2023 volume leaps 16.4% to 58,101. Toyota (-14.2%) keeps the lead for just 16 units with 13.3% share, edging past Volkswagen (+152.8%) up spectacularly to 13.2% share vs. 10.8% so far this year. Skoda (+169.3%) also impresses at #3 and 11.1% share vs. 9% YTD. Kia (+15.9%) and Ford (+30.6%) trail the market but still manage double-digit gains. Nissan (+162.9%), Renault (+131.4%), Audi (+62%) and Tesla (+55.8%) highlight the remainder of the Top 10.

Over in the models ranking, the Nissan Qashqai (+645.5%) is up 7-fold on its year-ago volume to snap the March lead with 4.2% share. It is the Qashqai’s first win in Ireland since October 2018. It is followed by the VW ID.4 (+127%) also in great shape and last year’s leader the Toyota Corolla (-19.7%) in a rut. #1 last month, the Kia Sportage (+4.2%) drops to #4 but accesses the 2nd spot year-to-date. The Toyota C-HR (-16.8%) is in difficulty unlike the Tesla Model Y (+195.8%) at #6. Almost all remaining Top 10 nameplates beat the market: the Skoda Octavia is up 184.5%, the VW Tiguan up 73.1% and the Skoda Kodiaq up 48.5%.

Previous month: Ireland February 2023: Kia Sportage best-seller, 8 SUVs in Top 8, sales up 9.8%

One year ago: Ireland March 2022: First market uptick of the year at +40.7%, Toyota places Yaris and Corolla on top

Full March 2023 Top 38 All brands and Top 224 All models below.