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Press Statement

Preasráiteas

09 June 2017

New user friendly interactive tool provides access to interesting information on vehicle model, fuel type and colour.

New online application - Ireland's Top Motors
  • Nissan Qashqai was the top new private car model in May 2017 with 318 cars licensed
  • In May 2017, 9,581 new private cars were licensed for the first time, a decrease of 5.4% compared with May 2016
  • A total of 7,732 used (imported) private cars were licensed, representing a rise of 40.9% on the same month last year
  • Volkswagen (984) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in May 2017, followed by Renault (964), Nissan (805) and Toyota (745)
  • Go to release: Vehicles licensed for the first time May 2017

    The CSO today (9th June, 2017) released new statistics on vehicle licensing for May 2017. Commenting on the report, Brendan Curtin, Statistician said: “There were 83,761 new private cars licensed in the first five months of 2017. This is a drop of 10.3% on the same period last year but the number of imported private cars licensed has risen by 49.6%.

    Today we launched an online application (Ireland's Top Motors) allowing people to view vehicle licensing data and rank their own car model for a particular month.

    The top five new car models licensed in May 2017 were Nissan Qashqai, Hyundai Tucson, Skoda Octavia, Renault Clio and Ford Fiesta.

    The online application also presents annual data on private cars, commercial vehicles, motor cycles and tractors in graphical form. It will allow users to follow trends in fuel types, colours and top makes.”

    Information on the ranking of car models can also be found back as far as January 2014 in the new statbank table.

    Editor's Note:

    Licensing differs from registration in that a vehicle is licensed when a valid motor tax disc is issued for the first time. Registration occurs when a vehicle gets its licence plate (registration number) for the first time.

    For further information contact:

    Brendan Curtin (+353) 21 453 5120 or Noreen Dorgan (+353) 21 453 5260

    or email transport@cso.ie

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