The cars we bought in Westmeath in 2024
Most new cars sold in Westmeath last year were grey and had petrol engines and automatic transmissions.
On the engines front, diesel was close behind petrol (488 sales vs 494) and both were more popular than petrol electric hybrids (388) and electric cars (197). Sales of EVs were well down at 197, compared to 276 in 2023 – a reduction of 28.62%. The figure put the EV market share at 11.60% for 2024, down from 16.66% in 2023. Market share for petrol was 29.09% and for diesel 28.74%. The number of passenger cars sold in Westmeath last year was 1,698, up on the 2023 figure of 1,657.
The best selling brand remains Toyota, followed by Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia, Škoda, Dacia, Renault, Nissan, Audi and Peugeot in the top 10. In terms of models, the best selling was again the Hyundai Tucson. The rest of the top 10 are: Toyota RAV4, Toyota Yaris Cross, Dacia Duster, VW Tiguan, Kia Sportage, Toyota Corolla, Dacia Sandero, Renault Arkana and Nissan Qashqai. Approximately a third of sales last year and in 2023 were hatchbacks and almost another third were MPVs. The percentage of automatics last year was 62.31 and of manuals 38.14.
The colours favoured by new car buyers in 2024 were: grey (35.16 per cent), black, blue, white/ivory, red/maroon, green, grey and black, blue and black, white/ivory and black, and red/maroon and black. The figures are from the SIMI, Society of the Irish Motor Industry