Figures released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that Ford has taken the lion’s share of car sales under the government scrappage scheme which was launched in January 2010. According to the figures which were compiled from statistics from the Revenue, to date this year, Ford has sold 826 units (or 17 percent) that qualified for the scrappage rebate. Next in line was Renault who took 16 percent of the “scrappage market” with 789 sales since January. Skoda and Toyota took the third and fourth positions in the sales table.

The full details of scrappage sales so far this year are as follows:
Make Units %
Ford 826 17%
Renault 789 16%
Skoda 455 9%
Toyota 422 8%
VW 414 8%
Hyundai 349 7%
Kia 337 7%
Nissan 244 5%
Opel 208 4%
Fiat 179 4%

The government scrappage scheme provides for VRT relief when a new passenger car with CO2 emissions of not more than 140g/km (i.e. CO2 tax band A or B) is purchased and registered and
another passenger car, over ten years old is scrapped. The scheme runs from 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010. The VRT relief available is up to €1,500.

Eddie Murphy, Chairman and Managing Director of Ford Ireland said: “The scrappage scheme provided a significant timely boost to car sales this year at a time when many jobs were threatened as a result of the huge decrease in vehicle sales”.

“We are delighted to have the honour of leading the pack in terms of sales under the scheme. It is a testament to the quality and appeal of our three models that qualify for the scrappage scheme: Ka, Fiesta and Focus, they are clearly cars that are ideally suited for the times we live in.”