With four months already passed, official statistics  released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that new car registrations for the month of April were up 10%.

Sales of new cars for the month reached 10,408 compared to 9,451 in April 2015, while new cars registrations year to date are up 26% (93,240) on the same period last year (73,970).

Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV) show an 11% (2,311) increase on April 2015 (2,078) and year to date are up 29% (15,730). While Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HGV) are also up 38% for the month of April (315) compared to the same month last year (228) and are up 57% (1,380) year to date.

Commenting on the figures SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan said: "Vehicle registrations are a very accurate barometer for the progress of the economy with the new car statistics reflecting the position of consumers while business activity and confidence can be seen in the commercial vehicle sales. Registrations from the different sectors continue to perform well, as we progress towards more normal levels of sales for our Industry. The two registration plate system has produced two very strong sales peaks in the 1st and 3rd quarter of the year.  As we move closer towards the 2nd registration period we would expect to see sales taper off somewhat however there are still very strong offers and many deals still to be done.”  

The top selling model for April was the Hyundai Tucson with the Volkswagen Golf in second place, the Ford Focus in third followed by the Skoda Octavia and the Nissan qashqai in fourth and fifth spots.

Toyota is the best-selling brand with Hyundai in second and Volkswagen third. Fourth place goes to Ford with Nissan in fifth.