August 2021 sales of new vehicles were heavily affected by the countrywide alert level four snap lockdown, the Motor Industry Association (MIA) said.
August 2021 sales fell 36.2% to 6,746 compared with 10,610 in August 2020.
But year to date volume was up 39.1% to 106,498 vehicles.
“With the Covid-19 snap lockdown effectively shutting down the second half of August for all but essential vehicles, it is no surprise the August outturn came in approximately 45% lower than the three previous months (May, June and July of) this year,” said MIA CEO David Crawford.
Compact and medium SUV segments remained strong market segments with 22% and 16% share.
The Ford Ranger was once again the top selling model followed by the Toyota Corolla and RAV4.
Year to date, 56% of sales were small to medium sized vehicles.
Toyota remained overall market leader with a 23% market share followed by Ford (12%) and Mitsubishi (10%).
The top selling electrified models were the Tesla Model 3 (191) followed by the MG ZS (56) and Hyundai Kona (31).
Ford retained the commercial vehicle lead with 34% market share followed by Toyota (21%) and Mitsubishi (7%).
The Ford Ranger remained bestselling commercial model with a 31% share followed by the Toyota Hilux (14%) and Hiace (6%).