Automotive industry in Ireland

In 1917, Ford opened a plant in Cork, initially for tractor manufacture as Fordson, but from 1921 cars were built as well.

The factory produced a range of models including the Prefect, Escort, Cortina and production ended with the Sierra in 1984.

Reg Armstrong of motorbike racing fame, had an assembly plant in Ringsend for NSU and Opel.

Morris Commercials, MG, Riley and Wolseley cars were assembled by Booth Poole, which was also taken over by Brittains.

[4] 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.

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

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.

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.