Massive drop in import of cars from UK to Ireland due to new emissions levy

The top ten most popular imported cars have also been revealed.

A new report published by MotorCheck.ie finds that 2,354 fewer cars were imported into Ireland from the UK in January 2020, down 25.7% from the amount imported in January 2019. A total of 6,769 cars were imported into Ireland from the UK in January, down from 9,114 from the year before, out of a total of 200,782 for all of 2019. According to the report, the reason for this is largely down to two main contributing factors. The first is Brexit-related (obviously), and with the Sterling's stabilising strength once the deadline of Brexit was confirmed. And the other was the introduction of the NOx Levy, which arrived on 1 January 2020. The NOx Levy is an additional amount levied against the Nox emissions of a vehicle which must be paid on top of the standard VRT amount on first registration of a vehicle in the state. The report also revealed the top ten models that are imported into Ireland via the UK:

1. Volkswagen Golf
2. BMW 5 Series
3. Ford Focus
4. Nissan Qashqai
5. Audi A6
6. Volkswagen Passat
7. Mercedes-Benz E-Class
8. Audi A4
9. Mercedes-Benz C-Class
10. Hyundai Tcuson

The full report can be found here.