An historic light commercial vehicle market share high of 10.7%, combined with new Dealer appointments and a renewed sales momentum behind Opel passenger cars, thanks to the recent launch of the new Grandland and the arrival of the much-anticipated all-new Opel Astra just weeks ago, has propelled the Opel brand up to 8th position overall in the sales charts, year-to-date July 2022. Opel now commands a combined passenger car and light commercial vehicle national market share of 3.9%, (+6.65%) in a difficult market which has contracted by 7%.
James Brooks, Opel Ireland’s Managing Director, said: “Opel’s robust performance in the all-important month of July was extremely pleasing. Our new Opel Astra and Grandland have been launched to tremendous reviews and together with the Corsa, Crossland and Opel Mokka, Continental Irish Small SUV of the Year 2022, have significantly raised our profile in terms of our passenger car portfolio. The strategic appointment of new Dealers in County Laois (Cummins Motor Group) and County Mayo (Rochford Motors, Ballyhaunis) has further strengthened our Network performance.”
Notably, Opel significantly increased sales of its light commercial vehicles in Ireland in the first 7 months of 2022. July year-to-date, sales grew by 21% to 1837 units in a declining market (-21.4%), pushing Opel’s national van market share up from 6.9% to 10.7%, to place 4th on the van sales podium. The all-electric Vivaro-e, Irish Van of the Year 2022, is Ireland’s best-selling electric van, commanding 39.6% of the emerging EV market.
Mr Brooks commented: “The Vivaro-e remains Ireland’s best-selling electric van in 2022, with the all-new Opel Combo-e now taking its place in the top ten electric sales chart. But our vans have by no means exhausted their full potential and we’re currently tracking strong interest in the all-new Opel Movano van, just arrived in Ireland, which will also be available in fully electric guise later in 2022. Indeed, we expect to generate further impetus in light of the government’s newly launched Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland programme, which will see businesses encouraged to trial EVs free of charge for a minimum period of 3 months. Opel is very well positioned to take full advantage of the emerging electric commercial market.”
