Galway car buyers continue to look to UK imports

More used imports from the UK were registered in Galway than new cars were sold here in 2018.

In fact, data on car sales shows there were 30% more used imports registered in Galway last year than cars sold locally on 181-G and 182-G number plates.

The industry figures also show that while new cars sales were down by around 3% over the past year, imports saw an increase of 7%, as motorists continued to look to the UK for bargains and high-end cars with specifications that may not have been available or affordable in the Irish marketplace.

Data compiled for the Galway City Tribune by car history-checking website Motorcheck.ie shows that in 2018, a total of 4,775 new passenger vehicles (cars, jeeps, people carriers and caravans) were registered as ‘181-G’ and ‘182-G’.

That figure compares to 4,908 for the same period in 2017, a decrease of 2.7%.

A further breakdown of the figures shows that of the new passenger vehicles registered in Galway in 2018, 827 were company cars, up slightly from 806 the previous year.

The most popular company car was the VW Golf (38 sold), followed by the VW Tiguan (31); VW Polo (28); Toyotal Corolla (22) and Toyota Rav-4 (22).

For commercial and Heavy Goods Vehicles, there was an increase of 6% – from 1,191 in 2017 to 1,262 last year. Used imports in this category were up slightly from 1,265 to 1,271.

Registrations of new motorbikes were up down by one third from 39 to 26, while used imports were up 4.2% from 120 to 125.

The most popular new cars in Galway in 2018 were the Hyundai Tucson (194 sold); Nissan Qashqai (162 sold); Toyota Yaris (146); Skoda Octavia (139); VW Tiguan (138); Toyota Corolla (137); VW Golf (133); Ford Focus (124); Toyota C-HR (115) and Kia Sportage (114).

Diesel is still the engine of choice for the majority of Galway drivers; of the new cars registered 2,746 were diesel; 1,605 were petrol; 362 were petrol/electric hybrids; 44 were electric and 18 were petrol/plug-in electric.

The most popular colour was grey, followed by black, blue, white and red.

For commercial vehicles, the most popular were the Ford Transit (99 sold), followed by the VW Transporter (96 sold); VW Caddy (96); Toyota Landcruiser (68) and Ford Transit Connect (59).

The top imported passenger vehicles were the VW Golf (376 sold); Ford Focus (339); VW Passat (305); Hyundai i30 (260); Nissan Qashqai (175); BMW 5 Series (171); Skoda Octavia (168); Audi A4 (166); Audi A6 (148) and Mercedes E-Class (147).

A total of 4,889 used imports were diesel; 966 were petrol; 214 were petrol/electric hybrids; 102 were classed as petrol/plug-in electric; 42 electric and 11 diesel/electric.

The top imported commercial vehicles were the Transit (208 sold); Citroen Berlingo (98); Toyota Hilux (59); Peugeot Partner (51) and Mercedes Sprinter (43).