Report: Inishowen Independent
TOYOTA was Donegal’s top selling new car make in
2011, in what proved to be a very good year for car
dealers.
Just over 300 new Toyotas were sold as dealers here
recorded their strongest sales figures in some
years, much of it attributed to the
Government-sponsored scrappage scheme that ran until
July.
In all, 2,047 new cars were purchased in the county
in 2011, up from 2,018 in 2010 and nearly twice as
many as the 1,041 sold in 2009.
Toyota came top with 310 vehicles, followed by
Volkswagen on 260, Opel with 217, Skoda on 156 and
Renault on 147. Ford (146), Kia (142), Peugeot
(100), Nissan (95) and Hyundai (77) make up the
remainder of the top ten.
Luxury brands like BMW and Mercedes have fallen from
the peaks of the Celtic tiger years, with just 49
new BMWs and 12 Mercedes being sold here last year.
The effect of the Government’s scrappage scheme is
clear from the figures, which were released by the
Central Statitiscs Office: 1,801 – 88% – of the new
sales for the year were made prior to the closure of
the scrappages scheme in July.
The figures also reveal that 3,762 second hand cars
were registered in Donegal in 2011. These are
thought to mainly be cars important from Northern
Ireland and Britain, and unlike the new car market
remained relatively consistent throughout the year
with around 300 sales per month.
Remarkably, Donegal imports more second hand cars
than any other county – except Dublin city and
county which has almost ten times the population of
Donegal. |
