2018 New Vehicle Registrations - Another Record Year

Media Release

8 January 2019

December and Total 2018 New Vehicle Registrations - Another Record Year.

David Crawford, Chief Executive Officer of the Motor Industry Association says, “The December 2018 figures are in and despite a softening market with ups and down during the year, 2018 is the fifth year in a row of record new vehicle registrations. While the month of December was down 3.6% (420 units) on December 2017 it still took the 2018 calendar year to an all-time new record, with a total of 161,519 registrations on corrected figures. Registrations for the 2018 year were 1% (1648 units) above the 2017 outturn.”

The total registrations of passenger and SUVs for 2018 were slightly down 0.4% (403 units) on 2017 volumes, however commercial vehicles were up by 4.0% (2,049 units) compared to the 2017 outturn.

For the month of December, Toyota remains the overall market leader with 26% market share (2,900 units), followed by Holden with 9% (1,012 units) and Mitsubishi with 8% market share (909 units).

Toyota was also the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with a massive 28% market share (2,175 units) followed by Holden with 10% (772 units) closely followed by Mazda with 9% market share (712 units). The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota Corolla (732) followed by the Toyota RAV4 (515) and the Toyota Highlander (325 units).

In the luxury sector passenger and SUV sector, Mercedes-Benz retained the 2018 market leader spot with 2,251 registrations, followed by Audi with 1,811 registrations and BMW with 1,649. However, the market for these brands softened during 2018 compared to the 2017 outturn signalling a distinct pending softening in the rest of the vehicle market.

In the commercial sector, Toyota was the market leader with 21% (725 units) followed by Ford with 19% (647 units) and Mitsubishi third with 12% market share (405 units). The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 17% share (604 units) followed by the Toyota Hilux also with 17% share (588 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Triton with 12% (405 units).

For the fourth year in a row, the Ford Ranger remained both the top commercial vehicle model and the top model overall with 9,904 registrations, up 484 units compared to 2017. The Toyota Hilux came in second with 8,086 registrations, also up on 2017 volumes by 980 units. The Toyota Corolla was the third highest selling model for the year with 7,300 registrations.

Vehicle segmentation for the 2018 year continued recent trends with SUV’s and light commericals dominating the market, and only the small vehicle segment breaking into the top five spots with 12% share. The top two segments for the year were SUV medium vehicles with 17% share (27,162 units) followed by the Pick Up/Chassis Cab 4x4 segment with 15% (23,870 units). SUV compact and SUV large round out the top four spots with 13% and 12% each of the market with the Small vehicle segment filling fith place witn 10% of the market.

“Given current global economic factors, Distributor expectations for 2019 indicate a softening of the market. Further steady growth in the new vehicle sector above 2018 outturn is not expected.” said Mr Crawford.

ENDS.

Sheet 1: Detailed figures for top 15 distributors, full year 2017, month of December 2018 and year to date 2017, total vehicles, new cars and new commercials.

Sheet 2: Detailed figures for top 15 selling models - passenger cars and commercials- full year 2017, December 2018 and year to date 2018.

Sheet 3: MIA segmentation full year 2017, December 2018 and year to date 2018.

December_2018_Sales_Table.xls
Registration_data_1975_onwards.xlsx

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