Back to Top

 Skip navigation

Vehicles licensed for the first time April 2023

Number of new electric cars licensed for the first time rose by 46% in the first four months of 2023 when compared with the same period in 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-5678
CSO statistical publication, , 11am

Key Findings

  • The number of new cars licensed in April 2023 increased by 1,232 vehicles (12%) compared with April 2022.

  • In the first four months of 2023, 17% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 13% in the same period in 2022.

  • Slightly over one-fifth (22%) of new private cars licensed in the first four months of 2023 were diesel compared with more than a quarter (26%) in the same period in 2022.

  • The number of used cars licensed in the first four months of 2023 rose by 5% compared with the same period in 2022 (16,022 versus 15,287).

  • There were 5,779 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first four months of 2023, compared with 5,974 in first four months of 2022, a fall of 3%.

  • Volkswagen (1,409) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in April 2023.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (09 May 2023) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for April 2023.

Commenting on the data, Nele van der Wielen, Statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show the continued growth in the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles licensed in Ireland. The number of new electric cars licensed has increased by 46% from 6,748 in the first four months of 2022 to 9,828 in the first four months of 2023. In the first four months of 2023, 20,265 new cars licensed were petrol cars compared with 14,015 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 45%. At the same time, the number of new diesel cars licensed decreased by 7% in the same period (12,456 vs 13,340).

Used Private Cars

There were 5,779 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first four months of 2023, compared with 5,974 in the first four months of 2022, a fall of 3%. The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first four months of 2023 was up 5% compared with the same period in 2022. (See Table 1)

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Volkswagen (1,409) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in April 2023, followed by Toyota (1,346), Skoda (1,054), Kia (900) and Peugot (613). Together, these five makes represent just under a half (47%) of all new private cars licensed in April 2023. (See Table 4)”

Editor's Note

Registration and licensing figures may differ in a given month for a number of reasons, some of which are outlined below:

  • Vehicles registered in the latter part of a particular month may not be licensed until a later month because of the time lapse between registration and first licensing.
  • In some cases, a vehicle may be registered by a dealership in advance of a sale.
  • Registered vehicles which are not used in a public place (e.g. tractors for use exclusively on the land) may not need to be licensed.

Seasonally adjusting the Vehicle Licensing series during the COVID-19 crisis period will be challenging until the scale and shape of its impact on the time series is better understood. The initial seasonally adjusted results might be revised for some months ahead as future observations become available. Users should be aware that there is increased uncertainty around the seasonally adjusted figures during this period.

Table 1: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time
 April January - April
 20222023Change 20222023Change
New private cars10,04511,2771,23212% 51,37457,1305,75611%
New goods vehicles1,8512,38853729% 8,70610,1091,40316%
New other vehicles1,1371,225888% 4,8825,37249010%
Total new vehicles13,03314,8901,85714% 64,96272,6117,64912%
          
Used private cars3,7704,14537510%15,28716,0227355%
Used goods vehicles65577512018%2,7532,9622098%
Used other vehicles9761,000242%3,5173,6681514%
Total used vehicles5,4015,92051910% 21,55722,6521,0955%

Tables and Graphs

Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in April 2019 to April 2023

Figure 1 Private Cars Licensed for the first time
Table 2 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

Most popular makes of new cars, March 2023
Volkswagen 12
Toyota12
Skoda9
Kia8
Peugot5
Other53
Most popular makes of new cars, March 2022
Volkswagen 9
Toyota17
Skoda6
Kia9
Peugot7
Other53
Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, April 2023

Table 3B Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January-April 2023

Table 4 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, April 2023

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
April 201811557966510117
May 201893621014010037
June 2018371699529909
July 201820743104529727
August 2018768194419489
September 2018439788989204
October 2018287477368938
November 2018164788788802
December 2018778102398850
January 20192227990509072
February 20191417891109398
March 20191440499209713
April 201913794105279931
May 2019912698009970
June 20193858101529794
July 20191874192729455
August 2019720290389064
September 2019410475078720
October 2019321481738486
November 2019167683118359
December 201972984848340
January 20202066585588415
February 20201326384148536
March 20201023968867049
April 2020133810801068
May 2020149016882703
June 2020218952325253
July 20201532978017889
August 2020736090229207
September 2020574791039533
October 20204189100939942
November 20201468660810322
December 202010321097610565
January 20211694876437577
February 20211167275167538
March 20211067267497494
April 2021821470967513
May 2021733785617606
June 20214980114867744
July 202120232108957887
August 2021856395437984
September 2021635491378045
October 2021388286948081
November 2021216788638118
December 202183285358156
January 20221581475328186
February 20221364388678195
March 20221187279918183
April 20221004584098204
May 2022712081598310
June 2022377487068517
July 20221507883868788
August 2022894292189065
September 2022731596579257
October 2022452795679319
November 2022235392159298
December 202286691239253
January 20231678780059273
February 2023132848888
March 2023157829993
April 20231127710013
Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

X-axis label20192020202120222023 to date
<1 year old22111
1-2 years old18181177
3-5 years old5056563630
6-9 years old2620254241
Over 10 years old5571421
Table 6 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time

Table 7 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type

Figure 6 shows the share of new electric cars licensed from November 2022 to April 2023. In April 2023, electric cars were 21% of all new private cars licensed.

Figure 6 New private cars licensed by fuel type, November 2022 to April 2023

The share of electric cars in the total number of new cars licensed grew from 1% in 2018 to 15% 2022.

At the same time, the share of diesel cars is falling. In 2018, 54% of all new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 27% in 2022. See figure 7 and figure 8.

X-axis labelPetrolDieselElectricPHEVHybridOther
20173165000
20183954110
20194047310
20203743530
20213234870
20223027157201
X-axis labelNumber of new electic private cars licensedEV cars % of new cars licensed
20176230
201812221
201934433
202039405
202185548
20221546215