Hyundai Tucson the best selling model in Ireland in January

By Gerry Murphy

Unprecedented consumer reaction to the new Hyundai Tucson, with record model sales has seen the new Tucson rocketing to be Ireland’s best-selling passenger car for the first month.

Hyundai chiefs say that the dealer network nationwide have recorded large consumer footfall during the month of January and consumer demand for February car registrations across the Hyundai range is looking very strong. The Tucson is followed in the best-selling list by the Ford Focus, Toyota Corolla, Ford Fiesta, and Volkswagen Golf.

Overall figures for the month of January show that 161 registrations are up 33% (39,812) compared to January 2015 (29,808). Light Commercials are currently up 34% (6,589) compared to January last year (4,909),while HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also up 138% (492) for January in comparison to the same time last year (206).

In Galway there were 1,672 new cars sold in January, which was 31% ahead of 2015.

Last year the Industry generated strong returns for the Exchequer with a total VRT and VAT take of €1.19 billion (23.4% ahead of 2014). When this is added to the VAT from vehicle servicing and repairs, road tax and fuel duties, the total revenue generated from the motorist was in the region of €5.4 billion in 2015. 161 car sales for the month of January also will see the exchequer benefit to the tune of €300 million.

The figures come from a report compiled by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry and DoneDeal.ie, which also show that the cost of motoring in 2015 which has seen a drop of 8.2% in the cost of petrol and 1.4% in the cost of diesel, while the average price of a new car has also dropped by 3%. However, motor insurance costs increased by 30.7%.