Toyota proves Cavan’s most popular brand

Toyota was the most popular car brand in Cavan in 2021 and the ever popular Carolla driving sales for the local dealership, Erne Motorworks; while the county overall saw an increase in the total number of new cars registered across the year.

Figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show 1,137 new cars were registered in Cavan in 2021. That’s up 137, or almost 14% on the year before.

However, the pandemic appears to be continuing to have an impact on sales in Cavan, with new registrations still down slightly on 2019. That year saw 30 more cars sold (1,167) in the Breffni county. Toyota proved the most popular brand in the county last year, with 187 vehicles registered, giving it 16.5% of the total market share.

It’s followed by Volkswagen on 159 (14%) and Skoda with 127 (11%) new registrations. Ford (11%), Nissan (10%), Hyundai (9%), Seat (5%), Peugeot (4%), Kia (4%) and Renault (3%) complete the top 10.

Tucson top model

However, the Hyundai Tucson proved to be the most popular car model sold in Cavan in 2021 after 74 units were registered. It’s followed by the Volkswagen Tiguan and Toyota Corolla.

Nationally, new car registrations for 2021 were up 19%, according to the latest statistics published.

Total new car registrations for 2021 finished at 104,932. Registrations were down 10.4% on 2019 figures.

Brian Cooke, SIMI director general, says while there has been an increase in sales across the country, the market is still challenging for the sector:

“The difficulties arising from both COVID and Brexit impacted on the supply and demand for cars, which made 2021 another challenging year for the Irish Motor Industry. While new car sales show a 19% increase on 2020, they remain behind 2019 levels. On a positive note, the sale of Electric Vehicles (EVs) more than doubled in 2021, and with the sale of EVs being underpinned by SEAI grants, we can expect to see an increasing number of new EVs on Irish roads in 2022.

"Commercial Vehicles sales also saw a significant improvement in 2021, with light commercial vehicles up over 30% on 2020, reflecting the increase in business confidence as the year progressed.”

Diesel still dominating

While there’s been a push to entice motorists to greener transport, diesel cars remained the most popular in Cavan last year.

A total of 536 diesel cars were sold in the county in 2021, exactly twice the number of petrol vehicles.

Petrol electric, or hybrid, cars accounted for 206 sales with 76 electric cars sold locally.

A further breakdown of the sales shows grey was the most popular colour in Cavan, followed by black and blue.