Sales

In 2020 PHEVs sales have been growing much faster than BEVs sales, thanks to strong incentives and a choice of now over 40 different models (even though we’re usually talking mostly larger and/or premium vehicles).

New PHEVs sales went from 1333 in 2019 to 2491 in 2020 brining the market share to 2.82%, closer to BEVs 4.54%. The Kia Niro is clearly the most popular car, followed by a few Premium cars and the Ford Kuga that should do quite well in 2021. New in December is the MG HS.

Even more impressive have been the imports, with a record 619 cars brought to the Republic last month (“thanks to” brexit uncertaincy) and a annual count of 3899 cars (2421 in 2019), much more than BEVs imports (451), thanks to a more mature British used PHEVs market, and signioficant VRT rebate.

Plug-in hybrid vehicules have show a great growth in 2020 (+87% to 2491 units and 2.82% market share) thanks to incentives and a choice of over 40 different models. Here are the 10 best selling Irish PHEVs for 2020. No less than 8 of these vehicles are SUV/Crossovers.

Despite sales up 62%, the XC60 is down 1 spot over 2019.

The original PHEV SUV is still in the game, but not as popular as it used to be with sales down 7%.

Important decrease of sales for the Range Rover Sport this year, as it was 3rd best selling PHEV last year.

New for 2020, the compact XC40 is logically beating its XC60 and XC90 siblings.

Affordable PHEV at around €30,000, the Ceed found its first 110 drivers.

This new generation of X5 PHEV is a hit with no less than 186 units sold, representing more than half of total X5 sales.

Also new for 2020 and possible winner for 2021, the Kuga didn’t miss its launch last summer.

The now ageing Outlander is down one spot but still doing well with sales up 18% to 237 units.

The BMW 330e is in its second generation and it sells pretty well with 345 units registered in 2020, representing 45% share of all 3-series ! Not bad for a car that exists in only 1 power train and in saloon bodystyle only.

For the second year in a row, the Kia Niro is the king of PHEVs in 2020, but also is the only vehicle present in both PHEVs and BEVs top 10s. Which PHEV will challenge the Kia next year ? Ford Kuga ? Renault Captur ?

After the top 10 in photos, here are the details of new BEV sales for 2020, and for December. If the Model 3 is unsurprisingly leading this month (as per Tesla hockey stick quarterly sales model), a surprise is the landing of the first 20 MG ZS, now officially imported in Ireland. If you follow this site, you already know we’ve already reported 11 MG ZS imports from the UK (classified as used). Sales are up 174% to 85 in December, and the year count is at 4013 units, representing 4.54% market share (vs 2.94% in 2019).

Used BEVs imports have surged by 38% in December, anticipating a no-deal Brexit (that growth can be seen for other powertrains too).

2020 is over and it hasn’t been a great year for most of us… but it has been for new BEVs sales, growing 17% over 2019 to 4013 sales. Here is the Top 10 best selling new cars for 2020.

The affordable Mini Electric has been launched in Spring and is entering the top 10.

The variant of the Golf that has always been in the shadows of the TDI in showrooms yet has had a decent 2020 with 175 units sold. It is now retiring, replaced by the ID.3.

The super efficient Hyundai Ioniq is often forgotten compared to its SUV Hyundai/Kia sibbling but is a great alternative to the Nissan Leaf 40 and it sales grew by 47% thanks to the launch of the facelift version with a bigger battery.

Quirky for sure, but popular nevetheless with a 7th position for the second generation of e-Soul.

The European best seller is only 7th here, still offering by far the best range for your money. It is somewhat disappointing to see sales receding despite the new version launched in Spring 2020.

Just landed a few months ago and already 5th overall in 2020, the ID3 is an instant hit and is going to be fighting for the leader position in 2021!

True family capabilities, impressive range for under €40,000 : The E-Niro is the only BEV solving that equation, bringing it to a 4th position in 2020.

If last year it did tie for 1st place with the Nissan Leaf, the Hyundai Kona Electric has been loosing important ground this year. Korean alternatives offering much more interior space for less probably penalized Kona sales.

Despite being almost 4 years old, with tech that is not best in class, the Leaf is still a very good choice on the market, with competitive prices, and a great dependability.

The Tesla Model 3 has been sold for over a year now and is the crown holder for 2020. 2021 will be much more challenging though, with improved competition from legacy automakers, as seen already in 2020 in the rest of Europe.

November 2020 sees the PHEV market share at 3.83%, growing comapared to the same month last year (3.15%) and also 2020 year to date (2.83%), with sales up 46%, despite covid restrictions on the distribution network.

This month, we welcome to the list 2 new models, : The Renault Captur (leading with 12 registrations) and Renault Mégane Estate, quite popular in their ICE variants and that should seduce a number of Irish customers thanks to their keen sub-30K base prices.

462 used PHEVs were imported last month. Mitsubuishi Outlander is still leading, followed by the BMW 3 and 5 series.

A half-disapointing month for EVs in November. Numbers show a 68% decrease in BEV sales while the overal market is up 20%. However last year was exceptional as it was the period when years of backlog of Tesla Model 3 started to be delivered. If you discount the Model 3, sales are stable, and at the endl, the BEV market share is at 6.67% which is more than the year to date (4.45%)

The VW ID3 is still leading with another 23 deliveries and Zoé is just behind, still lagging compared to its beautiful European performance. Germans have purchased over 20000 Zoés so far this year, why just 230 here ?

New PHEVs represent in October 4.63% of the car market, with 107 units registered, and 2446 so far this year. The Kia Niro is still leading the segment and the newcomer this month is the relatively small Mercedes A250e. Used imports are still strong, almost as much as last month, with 482 vehicles entering the Republic (+75% vs October 2019). See the tables below for more detail.

For the second month in a row, the VW ID.3 is leading the BEV sales in Ireland (and again, the whole market), with 94 units registered. Thanks to that and also good performance from the Model 3 and E-Niro, BEV market share is at 10.97% for the month, and 4.45% in 2020 to date. The new entrant to the game this month is the Honda e ! Making 23 different BEVs sold new in 2020. Every month we’re getting a little more choice !

With Covid restrictions and end of year coming, the 2020 top 3 will probably be the same as today : Tesla Model 3 leads, followed by the Nissan Leaf and the Hyundai Kona. The Nissan Leaf still largely leads the (small) used import segment.

But the surprise this month cam from the LCV market with no less than 286 (!) Renault Kangoo ZE registerd ! Which is more than any other vehicle this month and over 600 so far this year. Will there be more next month ? The Kangoo ZE might become the most popular Irish BEV of 2020 !

By Guillaume Séguin – October 3rd, 2020

We have never really covered light commercial vehicles (LCV) sales, just because these are relatively rare in a market where diesel is king. But lately, this is changing and no less than 327 100% electric LCVs were sold last year, mostly Renault Kangoo ZE.

This year sales are growing further and we should hit the 400 units mark. And if 2020 of course started slowly, surprising sales of Q3 (July-September 2020) did show again massive Kangoo ZE sales.
We don’t have the details of who bought these Kangoos ZE but just opening your eyes (and ears) you will probably have noticed that there are quite a lot of green AnPost vans going around (“192” and now “202” regs). Postal services have been purchasing Kangoo ZE all over Europe, thanks to reasonable purchase/lease prices and low running costs (and where the lack of DC capabilities do not matter). Fleet managers know!

If you are curious about the Kangoo ZE, check out our review here.

By Guillaume Séguin – October 2nd, 2020

New PHEV sales have reached a 3.57% market share in September, with 203 registrations recorded, a 3-fold growth over September 2019 (67 sales). No new entry this month but a top 5 made of 4 models launched this year (Ford Kuga, Volvo XC40, Kia Ceed and Audi Q5). A total of 2325 new PHEVs (2.77% market share) have now been registered in 2020, compared to 3618 BEVs during the same period.

The interesting element is still to be looked on the used import side, with yet another record, as for the first time PHEVs passed the 500 units/month mark. representing now over 5% of all used vehicles imported into the Republic, thanks to the greatly reduced VRT compared to ICE variants of the same models.

By Guillaume Séguin – October 1st, 2020

The month of September has been exceptional for dealers this year, with sales up a surprising 66%, mostly dues to attractives offers and delayed-by-covid purchases. Again this month BEVs shine with a progress of 477% (!) over September 2019. BEV Market share has reached 11.68%! (4.28% year to date)

The newcomer (and leader!) of the month is the long-awaited Volkswagen ID.3. The first 238 units have been registered, and there is no doubt on the fact that it’s a mix of dealer demo cars and first customer orders, as the software issue bottleneck has now past, and thousands of ID3 produced over the last few months can now be shipped to their respective destinations. Behind the new Volkswagen is the Tesla Model 3, usually on top on the 3rd month of each quarter : it is now celebrating its first year in Ireland. It also take the year to date lead over the Leaf, with 41 extra units sold over the popular Nissan.

Used imports are in line with previous months with just 50 BEVs registered in September.

Just like for BEVs, the PHEV market is doing much better than the ICE one (-62% year on year) in these difficult times. New sales have rose 69% to 244 units, bringing the market share to 3.96% ! Added to the BEVs, this brings a combined market share of just over 10% for BEV/PHEV. 1 out of 10 new cars has a socket !

In terms of models, Kia Niro and Mitsubishi Outlander are sharing the top spot with 55 registrations each. There are 2 new PHEVs entering the market this month : The Volvo XC40 and the Peugeot 3008, which powertrain will be introduced this year in a number of vehicles from the PSA group ( DS 7 Crossback and DS 9, Peugeot 508, Citroen C5 Aircross or Opel Grandland X)

See below the table for used imports.

Due to Covid-19 and closure of many dealers, it’s not a surprise to see the new car market sinking in March (-62% compared to March 2019). However on the BEV side, things are much more positive with sales up 21.8% to 379 units.

This difference is mostly due to the Tesla Model 3 (146 registrations) as we’re at the last month of the quarter and sales have accelerated (at least at the beginning of the month…). The “older” BEVs (Nissan Leaf, Hyundai Kona, BMW i3…) are suffering but new models are coming with this month the first Renault Zoé ZE 50 and the Mini Hatch Cooper SE. All in all, the market share for new BEVs is at a very impressive 6.14% for March and 3.27% to date this year. See table below for details.

The used import market is not as healthy unfortunately with registrations collapsing by 52% to just 25 vehicles. Note the that one MG ZS has been imported, a first.

The PHEV market starts 2020 with a more important growth than the BEV one. It went from 301 units registered in January 2019 up 86% to 560 units registered last month, now representing 1.8% of the market.

The Kia Niro (146 units, +106%) is still leading the segment with a slim advantage over the BMW 330e. No less than 23 different PHEVs have been purchased. New for this month : The Skoda Superb iV and the Kia Ceed PHEV (available in hatch and estate versions). More popular PHEVs are coming on the market in 2020 and the generous incentives often put these financially in par with petrol/diesel, this segment will therefore grow a lot and it could become bigger than the BEV market.

Used imports are still progressing (+12%), and much higher than for BEVs. Misubishi Outlander imports are slowing down a lot but almost all the other are progressing, especially the BMW 530e.

January is the strongest month for Irish car sales and this is also true for BEV sales. The growth has slowed down, but it is still up 12.4% for a market share of 2.87% in a total market down 3.5%.

The Nissan Leaf is the best selling car this month with sales slightly increasing over the same month last year. On the second spot, the Hyundai Kona is disappointingly down 35% whereas its sister the Ioniq benefits from its facelift to boost is sales by 120% and steal the 3rd spot from the Renault Zoé ZE40, which sales are at a standstill (6 units down 92%) awaiting for the new model to start its deliveries in the next few weeks. On the 4th and 5th spot, we can find the Kia E-Niro and E-Soul, and 6th is the Tesla Model 3. The Volkswagen E-Golf is showing a good growth (47 sales up 52%) thanks to its readjusted pricing.

On the luxury side of the market the Audi E-tron (20 units) is leading ahead of the Jaguar i-Pace (8), Tesla Model X (4), Model S (3) and Mercedes EQC (2).

There was no real new models on the market this month, so no particular boost seen, but there are a few volume vehicles coming this spring such as the Peugeot e-208, Renault Zoé ZE50, Opel Corsa-e and Mini Cooper SE, that should allow a significant growth later this spring.

The used imports market is still quite slow and dominated as always by the Nissan Leaf.

Here are the best selling EVs for 2019, in Ireland. First of all we have 16 different BEVs on the market in 2019 versus just 10 in 2018. You will find below the number of 2019 registrations, and evolution compared to 2018.

1 – Nissan Leaf and Hyundai Kona – 1086 units

Yes this year we have a tie for the top spot with 1086 units. The Nissan Leaf is no longer dominating the segment even if its sales are progressing by 38% over 2018 (789 sales). The Kona wasn’t really sold in 2018 (just 2 registrations) and is the big hit of 2019.

3 – Renault Zoé – 262 units (2018 : 93 units). The small French car is down 1 spot in 2019 despite a 182% evolution in sales compared to 2018!

4 – Volkswagen E-Golf – 247 units (2018 ; 80 units). The E-Golf sales have increased by 209% over the previous year.

5 – Tesla Model 3 – 187 units. It has freshly landed and yet is already the 5th best selling EV for the year 2019.

6 – BMW i3 – 135 units (2018 : 56 units). Still in 6th place for the quirky premium city car, up 141% over 2018.

7 – Hyundai Ioniq – 133 units (2018 : 93 units). The Hyundai Ioniq only progressed by 43% this year, and is down 4 spots.

8 – Kia E-Niro – 72 units – new comer for 2019

9 – Kia E-Soul – 62 units – Another new comer for 2019 as the previous version was not imported into Ireland.

10 – Tesla Model S – 49 units – (2018 : 79 units) – The American luxury car has lost 5 spots and sales decreased by 38% over 2018.

Tesla Model X, Jaguar i-Pace, Nissan ENV200 are now outside of the top 10 … see full details in the table below.

Find below the top 10 for 2018

PHEV sales have progressed in 2019, but at a slower pace than with BEVs. 82% growth is still very respectable and it shows us some interesting elements : Out of the 26 different PHEVs available on the market, 21 are from Premium brand and just 5 are non-premium models, 2 of which (Kia Niro and Mitsubishi Outlander) are actually leading by far and representing almost 50% of total sales thanks to their popular SUV shape and more “affordable” price point.

More interesting is the fact that if new PHEV sales are lagging behind BEV sales, the used import market shows us a very opposite reaction : The PHEV market almost doubled in 2019 to 2424 units, way more than the 642 BEVs that crossed the Irish sea last year. This is explained by the fact that PHEVs had a lot of incentives in the UK, resulting in high sales there. This has become a good source of used vehicles for us to tap into and this trend should pursue into 2020, with the VRT rebates still making these PHEVs even more interesting to import compared to similar diesels, as these will now be hit by the new Nox tax.

We’re in January 2020 and it’s time to look back onto 2019.

First of all, the Irish BEV market almost tripled over 2018, from 1233 (and 0.98% market share) in 2018 to 3444 units this year, and a more significant 2.94% market share in 2019.

The Nissan Leaf is still on top, but the new kid on the block for 2019, the Hyundai Kona Electric is also there, with the exact same number of registrations (1086) ! These 2 are each covering a third of the BEV market and the next EVs are far behind : The Renault Zoé has progressed a lot over 2018 (262 vs 93 sales) but still represent less than 10% of the market, and is underrepresented compared to its European performance where it is at the top, behind the Tesla Model 3. The Tesla blockbuster has been launched in ireland during the last quarter of 2019 and will be the one to watch for 2020 !

The used import market has been a bit sluggish at the beginning of the year but picked up again in Q4. The Nissan Leaf is still representing the majority of the imported vehicles but the Tesla Model S is second. It is normal to see it in this place considering that the American brand only started selling their vehicles in Ireland back in 2017. There is a local demand for older Tesla Model S, that are now affordable, with an almost reasonable VRT. We can expect this market to grow again in 2020.

How will 2020 be for new sales ? It is really hard to tell. Of course the many EVs coming onto the market this year will help the market growing further. We can for sure pass the 5% market share, if the manufacturers can respond to the demand. At least, the aggressive European co2 targets will now push them to sell EVs and not try to steer an EV prospect into getting a diesel.

24 PHEVs were sold in November, a 26% increase over November 2018. Volumes are becoming low at this period of the year but PHEVs are representing a 3.12% market share. The BMW 330e is still the most popular choice (69 sales since its launch in August).

Used imports on still on the rise (+43.3% vs 2018) with for the first time the BMW 530e leading, ahead of the Mistubishi Outlander.

Good news for Ireland ! The Tesla Model 3 is finally being delivered in numbers. 136 exactly. Consequently, it leads the segment in November, ahead of the Hyundai Kona (34) and Nissan Leaf (13). BEV market share is at an impressive 25.88% . Of course this is November and overall sales are very low anyway, so it’s not too significant. Still, even without Model 3 sales, BEV market share would have been over 8%.

To date in 2019, the Nissan Leaf (1083 registrations) is leading the segment by… just one unit over the Hyundai Kona Electric (1082).

The used import market is showing again signs of recovery, with a second month of growth in a row (+44% compared to November 2018), still dominated by the Nissan Leaf.