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Vehicles licensed for the first time January 2024

Number of new private cars licensed for the first time in January 2024 rose by 24% compared with January 2023

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

Key Findings

  • The number of new cars licensed in January 2024 rose by 4,074 vehicles (24%) compared with January 2023.

  • In January 2024, 14% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 15% in January 2023.

  • In January 2024, one-fifth (21%) of new private cars licensed were diesel which was the same as that recorded (20%) in January 2023.

  • The number of used cars licensed in January 2024 increased by 37% compared with January 2023 (4,600 versus 3,362).

  • There were 1,276 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in January 2024, compared with 1,280 in January 2023.

  • Toyota (4,113) was the most popular make of all new private cars licensed in January 2024.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 February 2024) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for January 2024.

Commenting on the data, Dr 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 12% from 2,531 in January 2023 to 2,829 in January 2024. In January 2024, 6,119 new cars licensed were petrol cars compared with 5,819 in January 2023. There were 4,337 new diesel cars licensed in January 2024 compared with 3,427 in January 2023.

Used Private Cars

There were 4,600 used private cars licensed in January 2024 compared with 3,572 in January 2023. The total number of used vehicles licensed in January 2024 was up 30% compared with January 2023. (See Table 1)

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Toyota (4,113) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in January 2024, followed by Hyundai (2,699), Skoda (1,753), Kia (1,567) and Volkswagen (1,483). Together, these five makes represent more than half (56%) of all new private cars licensed in January 2024. (See Table 4).

The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in January 2024 was Hyundai Kona (320) followed by Volkswagen ID.4 (215), MG4 (136) and Volkswagen ID.3 (132). See TEM28 for further information.”

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
 January
 20232024Change
New private cars16,78720,8614,07424%
New goods vehicles2,1922,67948722%
Other new vehicles1,3241,335111%
Total new vehicles20,30324,8754,57223%
     
Used private cars3,3624,6001,23837%
Used goods vehicles63475712319%
Other used vehicles704766629%
Total used vehicles4,7006,1231,42330%

Cars Licensed

Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in January 2020 to January 2024.

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

Fuel & Emissions Type

Table 3: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January 2024

Car Makes

Most popular makes of new cars, January 2024
Toyota 20
Hyundai 13
Skoda 8
Kia 8
Volkswagen 7
Other44
Most popular makes of new cars, January 2023
Toyota 20
Hyundai 14
Skoda 8
Kia 7
Volkswagen 9
Other43
Table 4: Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, January 2024

Seasonally Adjusted Figures

On 15 February 2024 revisions were made to Table 4, Figure 4, Table 5 and Figure 5. These updates were required as the data in question had been incorrectly published without being updated.

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
January 20192227990209245
February 20191417889729505
March 20191440499829771
April 201913794105579960
May 2019912697399988
June 20193858102169814
July 20191874193549462
August 2019720290219025
September 2019410475568643
October 2019321480648400
November 2019167683218282
December 201972981248242
January 20202066585328229
February 20201326384038177
March 20201023967868074
April 2020133810691090
May 2020149016922712
June 2020218952275227
July 20201532978237841
August 2020736089799180
September 2020574793109523
October 20204189100619921
November 20201468663010263
December 202010321071710489
January 20211694879257683
February 20211167275587677
March 20211067264777661
April 2021821470687690
May 2021733782047780
June 20214980111737919
July 202120232109218075
August 2021856394528187
September 2021635495938236
October 2021388289178227
November 2021216789948191
December 202183283468143
January 20221581479108070
February 20221364389767991
March 20221187278597916
April 20221004582897883
May 2022712076537924
June 2022377479748091
July 20221507883338377
August 2022894286848724
September 20227315106729018
October 2022452799659181
November 2022235395959223
December 202286688699201
January 20231678787069248
February 20231328488249420
March 20231578299969719
April 2023112771005110074
May 2023104521049510369
June 202355841118610485
July 2023181061001110421
August 2023113281062310273
September 202368821002410127
October 20234587981610062
November 202322919705
December 2023106410830
January 20242086110621
Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

Imported Cars

X-axis label2020202120222023January 2024
<1 year old21110
1-2 years old1811798
3-5 years old5656362926
6-9 years old2025424241
Over 10 years old57141926
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

Cars Licensed by Fuel Type

Figure 6 New private cars licensed by fuel type, August 2023 to January 2024

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
20183954110
20194047310
20203743530
20213234870
202230271571
20233322198171
X-axis labelNumber of new electric private carsPercantage of all new private cars
201812221
201934433
202039405
202185548
20221546215
20232249319

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