ŠKODA Ireland have announced a 20% volume growth in sales for 2016 versus 2015 in a record year which saw the brand deliver over 9,500 new vehicles.

The growth has meant that ŠKODA have retained their position as the sixth highest selling car brand in the country for the second year running, while they have increased their market share to 6.5%.

New car turnover has increased by 29% from €115m to €148m and the turnover from sales of vehicle parts and accessories has increased 13% from €7.8 m to €8.8 m. A growing number of customers are also availing of the competitive ŠKODA finance offers and today the company announced that they have loaned over €105million to customers over the past twelve months, an increase of 48.9% on 2015. In addition to this record sales and finance performance, extensive building works have been rolled out over the last 12-18 months to completely transform the appearance of the ŠKODA dealer network at a cost of €12.5million.

This comes on the back of ŠKODA producing their 19-millionth vehicle earlier this month at their factory base in Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic. In Ireland, the ŠKODA Octavia is the top performing model of the ŠKODA range with over 4,700 sales in 2016. The brand has also targeted a top five finish in 2017, a goal which will be boosted with the introduction of the brands first ever seven-seater SUV in March 2017, with the arrival of the all new ŠKODA KODIAQ.

Speaking today, John Donegan, Brand Director at ŠKODA Ireland commented: “At ŠKODA we are extremely optimistic for 2017. The new face of our dealer network will be the most modern of any car brand in Ireland and we will have some exciting new models for our customers to experience. It is a testament to the confidence of our Dealer Network also that they have such faith in the brand by investing €12.5million in their new showrooms.” In relation to the exceptional financial results announced, Mr. Donegan also commented: “Just under 50% of the cars sold by ŠKODA in Ireland are financed by ŠKODA Finance with two out of three ŠKODA’s financed taking the PCP route. This year alone, ŠKODA Finance have financed 6,052 contracts and we’re looking forward to growing that number further in 2017.”