It is early days for anything other than cautious optimism but Irish car sales are showing a healthy increase so far for January 2014.

According to one major source, Motorcheck.ie, new car sales in Ireland are up 30% on for the first 11 days in 2014 when compared against the same period in 2013.

Although there is only just over a week gone since the turn of the year and we will have a better indication at the end of the month on how big the growth will be, Toyota is the leading brand so far followed by Hyundai and Volkswagen. Indeed Toyota have four of the top ten models but at this early stage Hyundai have the top selling car with their popular iX35.


Top Ten Makes:


1   TOYOTA                         +54.24%               (+518)

2   HYUNDAI                       +39.55%               (+337)

3   VOLKSWAGEN             +25.34%               (+188)

4   FORD                             +13.48%               (+98)

5   SKODA                           +7.61%                 (+36)

6  RENAULT                      +131.31%            (+281)

7   KIA                                   +9.40%                 (+39)

8   NISSAN                         -11.57%                  (-53)

9   OPEL                            +39.35%                 (+109)

10  AUDI                            -10.34%                (-43)

Toyota also dominate the top 10 models with 4 out of the top 10.


1 HYUNDAI IX35                      +257      +108.44%

2 VOLKSWAGEN GOLF         +143       +50.53%

3 TOYOTA COROLLA             +223      +121.20%

4 TOYOTA YARIS                     +106      +48.18%


5  TOYOTA AURIS                   +65         +29.02%


6  FORD FOCUS                    +15         +5.56%

  
7  KIA SPORTAGE                  +68         +36.17%


8  FORD FIESTA                       +3           +1.21%


9  TOYOTA AVENSIS              -21          -7.75%

10  HYUNDAI I30                    +86         +54.09%

Commenting on the increase, Michael Rochford, Managing Director of Motorcheck.ie said “This is great news for the Irish Motor Trade which has been struggling with low sales figures since 2009. Its early days yet but all signs are positive that 2014 will see a return to a situation resembling normality for many Motor Dealers. The increase in sales can be attributed to a shift in consumer sentiment coupled with the fact that finance is now more readily available through PCP offers driven largely by
the Manufacturers themselves.”