Signs are that 2014 will be the best for new car sales in some time. At the end of July this year a total of 84,460 new cars had found homes in Ireland, considerably up on the same period in 2013 (64,845 cars). Indeed, that figure betters the total for the whole of 2013, when only 74,300 new cars were sold - down from an already poor 2012, in which 79,574 new cars were registered. Predictions are for a total of close to 100,000 sales come the end of 2014, which isn’t near the dizzying heights of 2008, when 151,444 new cars were registered, but is certainly approaching a sustainable number.
As in the used car searches, the Volkswagen Golf dominates the new car sales chart, though the BMWs that are so popular second hand sell in much lower numbers. In second place is the all-new Nissan Qashqai, followed by the venerable Ford Focus and Fiesta, ahead of Toyota’s stalwart Corolla saloon. One to watch for the future is Hyundai, which has jumped to fourth spot overall in new car sales.
New car buyers appear to have slightly different colour preferences to their used car counterparts, as silver is the most sought after paint hue. In fairness, it only just beats black to the top spot, with 21.36 % of sales in comparison to 20.75 %. They’re followed by grey, the n white in a very monochromatic palette.
Unsurprisingly, diesel powered cars are favoured by the majority of new car buyers, at 73.23% of sales this year, and an equally significant 67.68% have emissions ratings of 120g/km or less. That’s despite the introduction of plenty of new petrol powered cars with competitive emissions ratings at lower purchase prices. Nonetheless, demand for diesel cars in the second hand market, and hence their stronger residual values, will continue to support this situation. An overwhelming majority of Carzone.ie site searches were for diesel cars, at 81.33%.
Yet, the survey reveals that over half (53%) of motorists travel less than 25 kilometres to work each day. That equates to an annual mileage in the region of 15,000 kilometres. The fuel economy savings, by choosing diesel over petrol, over such a short distance are not likely to be considerable, and commuters that spend much of their journey at low speed should really reconsider petrol - or indeed hybrid or electric power. Petrol models are often cheaper to buy - in the case of both new and used cars - and they could be a canny purchase for a low mileage driver. Indeed, 50.4% of the survey respondents that bought a used car in the past six months went for a petrol model. Incredibly, 59.2% of those that plan to buy before the end of 2014 aim to get a diesel car.