Irish Market Wraps Up Dismal 2012 With 14.8% Drop in December

The Irish new-car market ends a dismal year with December results down 14.8% to just 316 units.

Society of the Irish Motor Industry data indicates full-year sales fell 10.4% to 79,498 units. This after 2011 deliveries dropped 11.6%.

The market showed only four monthly year-on-year gains from the already low 2011 results.

Diesel-powered passenger vehicles claimed a remarkable 74.2% of industry sales.

Toyota was the market leader in December, delivering 88 units, ahead of Ford with 66 and Volkswagen with 47.

VW ended the year as the No.1 auto maker, with 10,051 vehicles sold (down 10.0%), just ahead of Toyota on 9,956 units (down 15.4%) and Ford with 8,563 (down 18.3%).

The only manufacturer to have anything to smile about was sixth-place Hyundai, with 12-month sales jumping 30.7% to 5,242 units.

Skoda, ranked No.8, posted an 8.3% gain to 5,084 units and ninth-place Audi rose 6.4% to 3,685.

None of the other top 10 auto makers recorded sales gains.

The Ford Focus was the country’s top-selling model, down 11.7% to 3,748 units, ahead of the VW Golf, off 15.3% to 3,360.

The big gainer was Nissan’s Qashqai, in third place and up 24.3% to 3,298 units.

The light-commercial market dived 66.5% in December to 65 units. Ford, with 15 units, was the only brand to break double figures.

The full-year LCV market ended down 4.3% to 10,874 units, with Ford (2,278 units), losing its segment crown to VW (2,325).