Irish Light-Vehicle Sales Continue Sinking in May

Irish new-car sales tumbled 22.5% from year-ago in May to 5,963 units, dropping the first five months’ result 15.9% to 50,732.

Society of the Irish Motor Industry Director General Alan Nolan says the May figures continue the trend of what has been a very poor year.

“It is clear that there has been even less spending in the domestic economy this year than in recent years, which were not good to begin with,” Nolan says in a statement.

Toyota led the market in May, off 11.2% to 778 units. Volkswagen plunged 31.3% to 738 and Ford tumbled 38.4% to 619. General Motors’ Opel subsidiary, in sixth place, suffered the steepest fall, down 42.8% to just 329.

Volkswagen led the market after five months, down 14.8% to 6,471 units, ahead of Toyota, skidding 27.6% to 5,515 and Ford, slumping 23.5% to 4,947.

Fourth-place Hyundai was one of three top-10 brands to increase deliveries so far this year, up 10.2% to 4,234 units. Eighth-place Audi recorded a 1.4% uptick to 2,708, while No.9 Kia improved 6.9% to 2,417.

The biggest loser after five months was 10^th-place Renault, plunging 46.9% to 2,417 units.

Light-commercial-vehicle sales eked out a second straight monthly increase, gaining 12.6% to 1,069 units, with Ford leading the way, up 28.3% to 250, ahead of VW, down 4.3% to 221.

Opel jumped 97.2% to 95 units, moving into third place ahead of Toyota, down 9.1% to 80.

LCV deliveries year-to-date were off 6.5% to 6,477 units. Traditional segment leader Ford was on top despite slipping 4.5% year-on-year to 1,457, ahead of VW, off 8.8% to 1,263 and Renault, down 29.4% to 580.