Slight increase in new cars in Kildare this year, with Nissan's Qashqai the country's most popular car

The number of new cars registered in the first five months of this year in Kildare was slightly up on last year's figures, with an extra six vehicles being purchased in 2018.

The figures are remarkably consistent in comparison to last year, with a total of 3,662 being bought in the first five months of 2018 in comparison to 3,556 in the first half of 2017, representing a marginal increase of 0.16 per cent.

4.26 per cent of new cars in Ireland were registered in Kildare so far this year, with Dublin by far the highest as 40.79 per cent of new vehicles were purchased there.

The most popular car in Ireland this year has been the Nissan Qashqai, followed by the Hyundai Tuscon, Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Skoda Octavia. The most frequently purchased car in Ireland last month was the Toyota CH-R.

Commenting on the figures SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan stated “The volume of used imports is clearly the dominant feature and is continuing to impact negatively on the new car market. The slight increase in New car registrations for the month of May is not an indication of improvement, rather a case of altered timing in hire drive registrations with 470 more registered in May this year while the overall total for the year to date is actually 13 cars behind 2017.

"In line with earlier predictions Electric Vehicle (EV) sales have increased from 370 in 2017 to 512 this year. The number of Imported Used Electric Vehicles also increased from 165 to 280 this year. We would expect to see registrations of new EVs increase further as more new models come to market. The market share based on fuel type for the year to Date up to the end of May was: Diesel 55.6%, Petrol 37.9%, Hybrid 5.4%, Plug-in Hybrid 0.5%, Electric Vehicle 0.6%.