New car sales for first quarter

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has released sales figures for new cars registered during the first quarter of 2016. Toyota leads the way on 9,203 sales, giving an overall market share of 11.1 per cent, while Hyundai, Volkswagen and Ford are all hovering closely behind. Toyota has four cars in the top 15 in terms of individual models, with usual suspects like the Yaris and Corolla keeping sales flowing. You've probably spotted more than a few Hyundai Tucsons around, and the Korean compact SUV tops that chart so far, while strong deals on the ubiquitous Focus, Golf and Octavia keep the Irish public coming back for more. Volkswagen won the overall sales battle in 2015, so it will be interesting to see how the rest of this year plays out, especially with the new 162-reg in July. SIMI predicts around 160,000 new car registrations for 2016.

The rest of the top ten finds Nissan, Skoda, Renault and Opel continuing on from strong performances last year, while further down the list, Dacia's value-for-money models help keep it ahead of the likes of Peugeot and Mazda. Audi shades BMW in the premium segment, with Mercedes-Benz some way behind its Teutonic rivals. Spare a thought for Alfa Romeo though, languishing at the bottom of the figures, with only 16 of its cars finding homes since the start of the year.

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