Vehicle data expert Cartell.ie has issued some interesting statistics on car buying in 2019 and trends in the marketplace.

Based on stats for 2019 up to December 1st, new car sales were 113,526, a 6.5% decrease on 2018’s figure of 121,130 for the same period. This is third straight year that new car sales have decreased, mainly down to the attraction of used imports.

The Toyota Corolla was the top selling model at 4,212 units, followed by the Hyundai Tucson (3,877) and the VW Golf. Volkswagen were the leading manufacturer on 13,382 units followed by Toyota on 11,524.  Most car makers saw sales decline by between 5 and 10%, although notable brands that saw a slight  increase were; Seat, Skoda, Peugeot and Opel.

Diesel saw a sharp decline in popularity as power source, with sales down 19% year on year. Although diesel vehicles still accounted for 47% of new car sales, this was down from 54% in the previous year. Petrol vehicle sales remained steady at 45,782, or 40% of the market. 

As may be expected, it was Hybrids and EVs that showed the most upward trend. EV sales almost trebled going from 1,234 sales in 2018 to 3,409 in 2019. Hybrids also experienced a sharp increase going from 11 month sales in 2018 of 7,389 to 10,969 for the same period in 2019. These means that EVs now represent 3% of new car sales and Hybrids 9.6%.