The total number of new private cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024 was 3% higher than in the same period in 2023 (94,231 vs 91,272). The number of used (imported) cars licensed increased by 28% (36,753 vs 28,800) over the same period.
In the first seven months of 2024, 14% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 18% in the same period in 2023 (12,765 vs 16,766). This shows a 24% year-on-year fall in the number of new electric cars that were licensed in the seven month period from January to July.
The number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024 rose by 33% when compared with the same period in 2023 (19,230 vs 14,465). This has driven up the share (year-to-date) of hybrids among new private cars from 18% in 2023 to 22% in 2024.
The combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed year-to-date has remained about the same as in 2023 at 56%.
Toyota (2,546) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in July 2024.
Registration and licensing figures may differ in a given month for a number of reasons, some of which are outlined below:
Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in July 2020 to July 2024
| Table 1 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class | |||||||||
| Taxation Class | July | January - July | |||||||
| 2023 | 2024 | Change | 2023 | 2024 | Change | ||||
| New vehicles | |||||||||
| New Private Cars | 18,106 | 18,512 | 406 | 2% | 91,272 | 94,231 | 2,959 | 3% | |
| New Goods Vehicles | 2,637 | 2,942 | 305 | 12% | 18,237 | 21,199 | 2,962 | 16% | |
| New Tractors | 242 | 203 | -39 | -16% | 1,680 | 1,552 | -128 | -8% | |
| New Motor Cycles | 438 | 344 | -94 | -21% | 2,061 | 1,959 | -102 | -5% | |
| New Exempt Vehicles | 933 | 861 | -72 | -8% | 4,317 | 4,262 | -55 | -1% | |
| New Other | 185 | 225 | 40 | 22% | 1,232 | 1,706 | 474 | 38% | |
| Total New Vehicles | 22,541 | 23,087 | 546 | 2% | 118,799 | 124,909 | 6,110 | 5% | |
| Used (imported) vehicles | |||||||||
| Used private cars | 4,348 | 5,660 | 1,312 | 30% | 28,800 | 36,753 | 7,953 | 28% | |
| Used goods vehicles | 750 | 944 | 194 | 26% | 5,418 | 6,272 | 854 | 16% | |
| Used tractors | 259 | 229 | -30 | -12% | 1,644 | 1,584 | -60 | -4% | |
| Used motorcycles | 279 | 249 | -30 | -11% | 1,857 | 1,756 | -101 | -5% | |
| Used other vehicles | 468 | 637 | 169 | 36% | 3,329 | 3,777 | 448 | 13% | |
| Total used vehicles | 6,104 | 7,719 | 1,615 | 26% | 41,048 | 50,142 | 9,094 | 22% | |
| Total all vehicles | 28,645 | 30,806 | 2,161 | 8% | 159,847 | 175,051 | 15,204 | 10% | |
Figure 2 In July 2024, 13% of all new private cars licensed were electric.
| Most popular makes of new cars, July 2024 | |
| Toyota | 14 |
| Volkswagen | 13 |
| Hyundai | 12 |
| Skoda | 9 |
| Kia | 8 |
| Other | 45 |
| Most popular makes of new cars, July 2023 | |
| Toyota | 17 |
| Volkswagen | 9 |
| Hyundai | 12 |
| Skoda | 7 |
| Kia | 7 |
| Other | 48 |
| Most popular makes of new electric cars, July 2024 | |
| Volkswagen ID.4 | 14 |
| Tesla Model Y | 8 |
| Kia EV 6 | 5 |
| HyundaiIoniq | 4 |
| BYD Seal | 4 |
| Other | 66 |
| Most popular makes of new electric cars, July 2023 | |
| MG4 | 15 |
| Volkswagen ID.4 | 13 |
| Skoda Enyaq | 6 |
| BYD Atto 3 | 5 |
| Tesla Model Y | 4 |
| Other | 57 |
| X-axis label | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 to date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <1 year old | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1-2 years old | 18 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 8 |
| 3-5 years old | 56 | 56 | 36 | 29 | 27 |
| 6-9 years old | 20 | 25 | 42 | 42 | 41 |
| Over 10 years old | 5 | 7 | 14 | 19 | 23 |
| X-axis label | Unadjusted data | Adjusted data | Trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| July 2019 | 18741 | 8806 | 9114 |
| August 2019 | 7202 | 8689 | 8539 |
| September 2019 | 4104 | 7619 | 8126 |
| October 2019 | 3214 | 7679 | 7974 |
| November 2019 | 1676 | 8057 | 8027 |
| December 2019 | 729 | 8133 | 8168 |
| January 2020 | 20665 | 8766 | 8287 |
| February 2020 | 13263 | 8640 | 8301 |
| March 2020 | 10239 | 6940 | 8217 |
| April 2020 | 1338 | 1068 | 1127 |
| May 2020 | 1490 | 1783 | 2672 |
| June 2020 | 2189 | 5066 | 5027 |
| July 2020 | 15329 | 7346 | 7514 |
| August 2020 | 7360 | 8664 | 8840 |
| September 2020 | 5747 | 9123 | 9113 |
| October 2020 | 4189 | 9533 | 9216 |
| November 2020 | 1468 | 6423 | 9114 |
| December 2020 | 1032 | 10664 | 8847 |
| January 2021 | 16948 | 8305 | 8504 |
| February 2021 | 11672 | 7754 | 8258 |
| March 2021 | 10672 | 6592 | 8227 |
| April 2021 | 8214 | 6970 | 8440 |
| May 2021 | 7337 | 8689 | 8794 |
| June 2021 | 4980 | 10977 | 9137 |
| July 2021 | 20232 | 10364 | 9336 |
| August 2021 | 8563 | 9080 | 9323 |
| September 2021 | 6354 | 9402 | 9153 |
| October 2021 | 3882 | 8571 | 8919 |
| November 2021 | 2167 | 8743 | 8700 |
| December 2021 | 832 | 8302 | 8530 |
| January 2022 | 15814 | 8209 | 8419 |
| February 2022 | 13643 | 9300 | 8330 |
| March 2022 | 11872 | 7953 | 8231 |
| April 2022 | 10045 | 8095 | 8134 |
| May 2022 | 7120 | 7852 | 8079 |
| June 2022 | 3774 | 8411 | 8148 |
| July 2022 | 15078 | 8038 | 8351 |
| August 2022 | 8942 | 8478 | 8633 |
| September 2022 | 7315 | 10470 | 8879 |
| October 2022 | 4527 | 9700 | 9026 |
| November 2022 | 2353 | 9371 | 9096 |
| December 2022 | 866 | 8764 | 9133 |
| January 2023 | 16787 | 8727 | 9225 |
| February 2023 | 13284 | 9202 | 9399 |
| March 2023 | 15782 | 10166 | 9665 |
| April 2023 | 11277 | 9763 | 9966 |
| May 2023 | 10452 | 10434 | 10204 |
| June 2023 | 5584 | 12789 | 10275 |
| July 2023 | 18106 | 9820 | 10200 |
| August 2023 | 11328 | 10441 | 10084 |
| September 2023 | 6882 | 9974 | 9997 |
| October 2023 | 4587 | 9575 | 9953 |
| November 2023 | 2291 | 9543 | 9952 |
| December 2023 | 1064 | 10658 | 10010 |
| January 2024 | 20861 | 10296 | 10064 |
| February 2024 | 13979 | 9551 | 10063 |
| March 2024 | 14916 | 9924 | 9982 |
| April 2024 | 12409 | 10261 | 9815 |
| May 2024 | 10055 | 9850 | |
| June 2024 | 3499 | 8847 | |
| July 2024 | 18512 | 9252 |
The share of electric cars in the total number of new cars licensed grew from 1% in 2018 to 19% in 2023.
At the same time, the share of diesel cars is falling. In 2018, 54% of all new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 22% in 2023. See figure 9 and figure 10.
| X-axis label | Petrol | Diesel | Electric | PHEV | Hybrid | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 39 | 54 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| 2019 | 40 | 47 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| 2020 | 37 | 43 | 5 | 3 | 12 | 0 |
| 2021 | 32 | 34 | 8 | 7 | 18 | 0 |
| 2022 | 30 | 27 | 15 | 7 | 20 | 1 |
| 2023 | 33 | 22 | 19 | 8 | 17 | 1 |
| X-axis label | Number of new electric private cars | Percentage of all new private cars |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 1222 | 1 |
| 2019 | 3443 | 3 |
| 2020 | 3940 | 5 |
| 2021 | 8554 | 8 |
| 2022 | 15462 | 15 |
| 2023 | 22493 | 19 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (13 August 2024) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for July 2024.
Commenting on the data, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show a 24% decrease in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in the first seven months of 2024 (12,765) when compared with the same period in 2023 (16,766). In the same two periods, we see growth in the licensing of petrol & electric hybrid vehicles. The number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed increased by 33% from 14,465 in the first seven months of 2023 to 19,230 in the same period of 2024.
In the first seven months of 2024, 30,911 new cars licensed were petrol compared with 31,155 in the same period of 2023, a fall of 1%. Comparing the same seven-month periods in 2023 and 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed rose by 10% (19,653 vs 21,624).
Used Private Cars
There were 9,841 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024, compared with 9,506 in the same period of 2023, an increase of 4%.
The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first seven months of 2024 was up 28% compared with the same period in 2023 (See Table 1).
Most Popular Car Brands
Data also shows that Toyota (2,546) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in July 2024, followed by Volkswagen (2,456), Hyundai (2,164), Skoda (1,600), and Kia (1,393). Together, these five makes represented more than half (55%) of all new private cars licensed in July 2024 (See Table 4).
The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in July 2024 was Volkswagen ID.4 (338), followed by Tesla Model Y (190), and Kia EV 6 (119) (See TEM28 for further information).”