Increased prosperity in Ireland is benefiting automakers, particularly high-end carmakers such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.
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New-car sales were up more than 6% to 154,141 units last year.
Similar growth is expected in 2005, following an upbeat economic forecast by the Economic & Social Research Institute. The Irish think tank predicts economic growth of 5% this year.
Eddie Murphy, chief executive of Ford Ireland, says “this should mean new-car sales of around 160,000 units in 2005.”
Between 2001 and 2004, the segments that grew most in Ireland were the luxury segment, up 20% to 12,200 units, and the minivan (MPV) segment, which has almost doubled in size to 14,000 units over the last three years.
Small-segment cars such as the Ford Fiesta and the Fiat Punto used to account for more than a third of all sales in Ireland, but between 2001 and 2004 this segment declined 27% to 35,846 units. Sales of medium and large family cars remained static.
Demand for luxury cars grew further last year with sales up 10% to more than 17,700 units. Marques classified as “luxury” for the Irish market are Alfa Romeo, Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Lexus, Mercedes, Saab and Volvo.
In 2004, Toyota was the Irish market leader with a share of 13.1% (20,150 units) followed by Ford with 11.0% (16,973) units and VW with 9.9% (15,186 units).
Toyota’s sales rose by 17.6% last year. Ford’s sales were down by 4.3% while VW’s sales were up 4.6% in 2004.
Automotive News Europe
