Automotive industry in Ireland

The automotive industry in Ireland has had a varied history. The punitive tax on imported cars encouraged a wide range of companies to assemble their cars locally including Fiat, Ford and Renault.[1] From Ireland's entry to the European Union in 1973, the need for locally produced cars to avoid import taxes reduced and since the 1980s, production ended and all cars are now imported.

## History

[edit]

The Alesbury automobile was exhibited in Dublin in 1907, but manufacture lasted only from then until 1908.

Citroen C4 "Torpedo" with a Cork registration

In 1917, Ford opened a plant in Cork, initially for tractor manufacture as Fordson, but from 1921 cars were built as well. The Henry Ford & Son Ltd factory was the first to be purpose built by Ford in Europe, starting its life on the site of an old Cork racecourse. The factory produced a range of models including the Prefect, Escort, Cortina and production ended with the Sierra in 1984.[2] The factory site extended over 18 acres and employed 7,000 people.

Motor Distributors started to import Volkswagen Beetles in 1950 packed in crates in what was termed 'completely knocked down' (CKD) form ready to be assembled, and was the first Volkswagen ever built outside Germany.[3] The vehicles were assembled in a former tram depot in Shelbourne Road in Ballsbridge, which is now the premises for Ballsbridge Motors who are still a Volkswagen dealer. Irish-assembled Beetles rose from an output of 46 units in 1950 to 2,155 units in 1952. This necessitated a move in 1955 to a new factory premises on the Naas Road. Assembly of the Beetle continued there until 1980 when production of the car ceased in Europe. Volkswagen vehicle assembly continued in Dublin until the mid-1980s. During the same period, the Volkswagen Transporter van was also assembled. Motor Distributors also assembled Renault in the late 50s early 60s.

Fiat had an assembly plant in Summerhill. O'Neill were Dodge agents. Vauxhall cars and Bedford commercials were assembled in Santry by McCairn's Motors. Reg Armstrong of motorbike racing fame, had an assembly plant in Ringsend for NSU and Opel. For a time there was also an Opel assembly plant in Cork, the Republic of Ireland was divided into a north and south sales areas for Opel. The Cork assembler O'Shea also had the Zetor tractor and Skoda car franchise.

The Heinkel Kabine was produced for a short period in 1958. The Shamrock was a short-lived car with a short production of only eight cars in the 1960s in Castleblaney, County Monaghan.

A large number of British cars were assembled in Ireland from CKD kits from the 1920s to the 1960s up to 1974. Austin cars and commercial models were assembled by Lincoln & Nolan, Morris cars were assembled by the Brittain's Group, who subsequently acquired Lincoln & Nolan. Morris Commercials, MG, Riley and Wolseley cars were assembled by Booth Poole, which was also taken over by Brittains.[4]

A Renault R4 GTL built in 1982 in Wexford

Thompson Motor Co. built a new factory in Wexford in 1965 where it assembled the Renault 4, with almost 200 employees producing 35 cars a day. It later went on to produce the TMC Costin, a lightweight sports car, from 1983 to 1987.

The 1970s Hillman Hunter was assembled in Santry until production ended in 1979.

In 1982 Vauxhall models ceased to be sold, with all General Motors cars carrying the Opel badge.

### Buses

[edit]

Until the early 1970s CIÉ built its own buses at its Spa Road factory in Dublin, which was taken over by Van Hool McArdle in 1974 but closed in 1978. In 1980 GAC Ireland was established in Shannon, but closed in 1986, leaving the Republic of Ireland needing to import buses thereafter.

## Northern Ireland

[edit]

The short-lived DeLorean Motor Company operated in Dunmurry, a suburb of Belfast, from 1978 until the company's bankruptcy in 1982. It produced an estimated 9,000 DeLoreans.

## Motorsport

[edit]

The 1903 Gordon Bennett Cup was the first international motorsport event to be held in Ireland.

The Irish International Grand Prix was held for only three years from 1929.

The Circuit of Ireland Rally is an annual automobile rally, which was first held in 1931 making it the third oldest rally in the world.

Mondello Park, Ireland's only international motorsport venue, was established in 1968.

## Passenger car sales

[edit]

Passenger car sales have varied greatly from a peak of 230,795 in the year 2000 and a Celtic Tiger high of 186,325 in 2007 to a low of 57,453 in the wake of the Irish property crash and the Post-2008 Irish banking crisis.

The opening of the Luas red and green lines in 2004 and the expanded Luas opening in 2017, the establishment of Dublinbikes in 2009 along with Coca-Cola Zero bikes across other Irish cities in 2014, the further expansion of cycling infrastructure in Dublin along with other shared bike schemes and the deregulation of taxi services (between 2000 and 2008 the number of taxi licences rose from 3,913 to 21,177, Hailo launching in 2012)[5] has also helped to reduce or defer the need by consumers to buy passenger cars.

More recently increased car and fuel taxes and environmental concerns have also begun to have an effect on the demand for cars and particularly traditional fuel type cars.

Year (period)  | Number of passenger cars sold

|

1997  |

136,662

1998  |

145,702

1999  |

174,242

2000  |

230,795

2001  |

164,730

2002  |

156,125

2003  |

145,223

2004  |

154,136

2005  |

171,742

2006  |

178,484

2007  |

186,325

2008  |

151,607

2009  |

57,453

2010  |

88,443

2011  |

89,904

2012  |

79,574

2013  |

74,367

2014  |

96,284

2015  |

124,945

2016  |

146,603

2017  |

131,335

2018  |

125,557

2019  |

117,100

2020  |

117,100

2021  |

117,100

2022  |

105,398

2023  |

122,444

2024  |

121,230

2025  |

73,562

[6][7][8][9][10]

## See also

[edit]

* Motor tax in the Republic of Ireland
* Vehicle registration plates of the Republic of Ireland

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Renault years in Wexford". Wexford People. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
2. ^ "Forgotten History of Ford Factory in Cork Ireland/". Road and Track. 17 March 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
3. ^ "Ireland claims first Beetle made outside of Germany". Volkswagen UK. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
4. ^ "BMC 1100/1300 : Irish variations". AR Online. 19 July 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
5. ^ "Taxi Regulation in Ireland: To Regulate or Deregulate?". Council.ie. 4 February 2015. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
6. ^ "Ireland Car Sales Data". carsalesbase.com. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
7. ^ "SIMI | National Vehicle Statistics - SIMI". www.simi.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
8. ^ "Statistical Product - Vehicle Licensing Statistics Annual Series". CSO.ie. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
9. ^ "Annual car sales in Ireland 2009-2019". Statista. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
10. ^ ""2021 New Car Registrations up 19%"". simi.ie. Retrieved 5 January 2022.

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