New car sales drop in June

For the first time in 2015, car sales dropped in June compared to the same month last year. The fall was relatively slight, from 1,684 cars in June 2014 to 1,449 cars in the past four weeks, but that’s still a 13 per cent decline.

Overall, the market is still significantly up on last year – by 25 per cent, but even that represents a a drop-off from the 30 per cent jump in sales seen in the crucial January sales period.

Volkswagen continues to dominate the market – VW brand sales of 10,425 mean that it's almost 1,600 sales clear of second-placed Toyota on 8,886 sales. Toyota is also significantly ahead of third placed Ford, which sold 7,963 cars in the first half of the year. That makes it a relatively poor 2015 thus far for Ford, which had brand-new versions of key models such as Mondeo and Focus to offer, while Toyota has been effectively running-down stocks of cars such as the Auris and Avensis, ahead of the arrival of new versions in the coming weeks. Toyota was also the best-selling brand overall in June, one of only three car makers to break into three figures-sales numbers in the past month.

Meanwhile, in fourth and fifth places both Hyundai and Nissan appear to be on a sales charge. Hyundai increased its sales by 34 per cent compared to the same period last year, while Nissan scored a massive 52 per cent increase.

In terms of group figures it is the Volkswagen Group as a whole that dominates new car sales. While VW itself has a 12 per cent market share, the combined total of the four passenger car brands (VW, Audi, Skoda and Seat) is a whopping 25 per cent. Ford has no subsidiary brand with which to bolster its market presence, while Lexus (with 341 sales so far this year) adds a mere 0.41 per cent to Toyota's total. Hyundai and Kia are, in a Korean sense, the same company of course and their totals combined would put them into second place overall with just over 17 per cent market share, but the two Irish importing companies are strictly separate, indeed rival, entities so that's just an exercise in maths.

Commenting on the figures, Volkswagen Group Ireland CEO, Lars Himmer said that “we are encouraged by the recovery to date which is in part due to the investments that we have made with our dealer partners to improve the network and the customer experience across all of our brands. This work will continue and we now know the market will exceed the 100,000 mark for the first time since 2007.”

All importers will be looking somewhat nervously at the early registration figures from this week however. The July sales period, since the introduction of the two-plate system in 2013, has thus far seen a sales kick in the summer, but usually at the expense of the following months. With sales dipping in June, there will be an anxious wait to see if July picks up significantly, or if wider economic worries start to prey on buyers’ minds.

In individual model terms, the VW Golf is the best-selling car so far this year, with 3,807 sales and that’s followed by the Ford Focus on 3,017 sales and the Nissan Qashqai on 2,707. The Skoda Octavia and Toyota Corolla are closely shadowing the Qashqai in fourth and fifth places while Hyundai has managed to put the ix35 into sixth place with 2,350 sales in spite of the fact that it’s going to be replaced later this year by a new Tuscon.

Models making big gains are the Ford Mondeo (sales up by 120 per cent on this time last year) and the Volkswagen Passat (up by 53 per cent) which shows the difference a new model can make. Those stumbling are the BMW 5 Series (down by 11 per cent), the Opel Insignia (down by 10 per cent) and the Citroen C4 Picasso, which saw its sales fall by a whopping 74 per cent compared tot he first six months of 2014. Models which sold a big, fat zero include the Mini Roadster, Mercedes SLK, Audi R8 and Toyota Urban Cruiser. The tiny sales award goes jointly to the Maserati GranTurismo, Porsche Boxster, BMW Z4 and Alfa Romeo Mito which each sold one car in the space of six months.

Best Sellers 2015

Brands:

Volkswagen: 10,425 units. (12.66 per cent market share)

Toyota: 8,866 units. (10.77 per cent market share)

Ford: 7,963 units. (9.67 per cent market share)

Hyundai: 7,559 units. (9.18 per cent market share)

Nissan: 7,356 units. (8.93 per cent market share)

Models:

Volkswagen Golf: 3,807 units.

Ford Focus: 3,017 units.

Nissan Qashqai: 2,707 units

Skoda Octavia: 2,509 units.

Toyota Corolla: 2,462 units.