Motor Industry Association Chief Executive David Crawford says that September 2020 registrations of new vehicles reflect a weaker economy affected by the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. September registrations came in at 24.9% below September 2019 with 10,902 vehicles registered, down 3,623 units on the same month last year.
“Year to date the market is down 23.8%, which is consistent with recent months data confirming our expectations that 2020 will finish about 25% down on 2019 volumes.”
Key points
- Overall September 2020 registrations of 10,610 vehicles were down 24.9% (3,623 units) on the same month in 2019.
- There were 243 pure electric vehicles, 54 PHEV’s and 927 hybrid vehicles sold for the month. The Tesla Model 3 performed well with 139 registrations for the month.
- The market overall to the end of September is down 23.8% (27,314 units) on the first nine months of 2019.
- Registration of 7,735 passenger and SUVs for September 2020 were down 25.1% (2,587 units) on 2019 volumes, while commercial vehicle registrations of 3,167 were down 24.6% (1,036 units) compared to September 2019.
- The top three models for the month of September were the Ford Ranger (663 units), followed by the Toyota RAV4 (464 units) with the Mitsubishi Triton in third place (360 units).
Market leaders in September
Toyota remains the overall market leader with 15% market share (1,623 units), followed by Ford with 9% (994 units) and Mitsubishi in third spot also with 9% market share (978 units).
SUV and passenger vehicle sales
Toyota was the market leader for passenger and SUV registrations with 16% market share (1,217 units) followed by Kia with 10% (801 units) and then Suzuki with 8% market share (625 units). Tesla made it into the top ten with 158 units registered for the month.
The top selling passenger and SUV models for the month were the Toyota RAV4 (464 units) followed by the Suzuki Swift (290 units) and the Kia Sportage (285 units).
Commercial vehicle sales
Ford retained the market lead with 25% market share (803 units) followed by Toyota with 13% (406 units) and Mitsubishi third with 11% market share (360 units).
The Ford Ranger retained the top spot as the bestselling commercial model with 21% share (663 units) followed by the Mitsubishi Triton with 11% share (360 units) and the Toyota Hilux in third place with 8% market share (265 units).
Smaller vehicles dominated the market in September
The top spot went to the SUV medium vehicles with 22% share followed by SUV Compact with 19% market share and then the Pick Up/Chassis 4x4 segment with 13% share.