Toyota is favourite new car brand for 2015 - CSO

The number of new private cars taxed for the first time rose by nearly 26 per cent in January compared to the same month last year.

There were 20,105 new private cars taxed for the first time last month and a further 4,001 newly imported cars, according to the latest figures from Central Statistics Office (CSO). In addition to this 2,050 new goods vehicles were taxed last month.

Toyota was the most popular new car brand with 2,908 new private cars licensed - or taxed - for the first time, compared to 2,245 Fords, 2,052 Hyundais and 1,884 Volkswagens.

That’s a significant change in the market, particularly for Volkswagen, which finished last year as the most popular Irish new car brand.

These figures also differ significantly from the new registration statistics issued last week which showed a total of 29,948 new cars were registered. In those figures Toyota is the best selling brand for the month, with 3,866 new car registrations. It has knocked Volkswagen(3,219 registrations) from the top spot. Ford is third with 3,129 registrations, followed by Hyundai in fourth place with 2,941.

The discrepancy is partly down to the legal requirements to register a car before it leaves a dealership. Motor tax payment may be made but it can take longer to process and a car registered late in January may not appear in the motor tax figures until the following month.

It’s also an indication in some instances that cars have been registered by dealers or distributors to boost their market share figures but may not actually be sold yet to private buyers. This is known as pre-registration and was a common trend in the new car market during the recession where unsold new cars were registered and then sold to customers at a discount as low-mileage used models. This meant that car firms could offload a build-up of new stock without having to officially reduce their new car prices.

The CSO statistics record the strong growth in sales of Korean brand Hyundai and its sister brand Kia. Both recorded over 1,000 new cars taxed for the first time in January. It reflects a trend in the international car market where the Koreans are recording year-on-year growth, largely at the expense of European brands.

At the premium end of the market Audi recorded 822 new private cars licensed, compared to 736 for BMW, 497 for Mercedes, 252 for Volvo and 96 for Lexus.

In terms of the 4.001 used imports taxed in the Republic for the first time, Fords were the most popular marque with 553, followed by Volkswagen with 514, Vauxhall (the British brand for Opel models) with 436, and Audi with 314.