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Vehicles licensed for the first time June 2023

New electric cars licensed for the first time in the first half of 2023 were up 65% compared with the same period in 2022

Online ISSN: 2009-5678

CSO statistical publication, 10 July 2023, 11am

Key Findings

The number of new cars licensed in June 2023 increased by 1,810 vehicles (48%) compared with June 2022.
In the first half of 2023, 19% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 13% in the same period in 2022 (13,701 versus 8,309).
Plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) new cars licensed in the first half of 2023 rose by 23% compared with same period in 2022.
Over a quarter (27%) of the new cars licensed in the first half of the year were PHEV or EV, compared with just over one-fifth (22%) diesel and 35% petrol. The proportion of new diesel cars licensed is down from 27% in the same period in 2022 and from 48% in 2019.
The number of used (imported) cars licensed in the first half of 2023 increased by 5% compared with the same period in 2022 (24,452 versus 23,254).
There were 8,258 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first half of 2023, compared with 8,667 in first half of 2022, a fall of 5%.
Tesla (833) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in June 2023.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 July 2023) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for June 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 65% from 8,309 in the first half of 2022 to 13,701 in the first half of 2023. In the first six months of 2023, 25,446 new cars licensed were petrol cars compared with 17,465 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 46%. At the same time, new diesel cars licensed decreased by 5% from 8,667 to 8,258 in the same period.

Used Private Cars

There were 8,258 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first half of 2023, compared with 8,667 in the same period in 2022, a fall of 5%.

The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first six months of 2023 was up 6% compared with the same period in 2022 (See Table 1).

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Tesla (833) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in June 2023, followed by Volkswagen (788), Toyota (647), Hyundai (348) and Skoda (345). Together, these five makes represent more than half (53%) of all new private cars licensed in June 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
	June				January - June
	2022	2023	Change		2022	2023	Change
New private cars	3,774	5,584	1,810	48%	62,268	73,166	10,898	18%
New goods vehicles	1,604	2,404	800	50%	12,522	15,600	3,078	25%
New other vehicles	714	906	192	27%	6,732	7,492	760	11%
Total new vehicles	6,092	8,894	2,802	46%	81,522	96,258	14,736	18%

Used private cars	3,944	4,107	163	4%	23,254	24,452	1,198	5%
Used goods vehicles	677	806	129	19%	4,139	4,668	529	13%
Used other vehicles	1,031	1,001	-30	-3%	5,724	5,824	100	2%
Total used vehicles	5,652	5,914	262	5%	33,117	34,944	1,827	6%

Open in Excel: Vehicles licensed for the first time June 2023 Table 1 (XLS 17KB)

Visit Table TEM01 on PxStat

Tables and Graphs

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

Table 2 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

	Most popular makes of new cars, January - June 2023
Toyota	14
Volkswagen	11
Hyundai	9
Skoda	8
Kia	7
Other	50

	Most popular makes of new cars, January - June 2022
Toyota	17
Volkswagen	8
Hyundai	13
Skoda	7
Kia	8
Other	46

Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, June 2023

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

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

X-axis label	Unadjusted data	Adjusted data	Trend
June 2018	3716	9943	9915
July 2018	20743	10445	9732
August 2018	7681	9440	9492
September 2018	4397	8899	9206
October 2018	2874	7727	8941
November 2018	1647	8875	8807
December 2018	778	10227	8855
January 2019	22279	9052	9074
February 2019	14178	9109	9396
March 2019	14404	9944	9705
April 2019	13794	10548	9917
May 2019	9126	9774	9954
June 2019	3858	10154	9780
July 2019	18741	9257	9447
August 2019	7202	9030	9061
September 2019	4104	7498	8721
October 2019	3214	8174	8487
November 2019	1676	8310	8361
December 2019	729	8487	8345
January 2020	20665	8537	8422
February 2020	13263	8429	8543
March 2020	10239	6928	7062
April 2020	1338	1085	1071
May 2020	1490	1681	2701
June 2020	2189	5216	5240
July 2020	15329	7781	7864
August 2020	7360	9012	9185
September 2020	5747	9085	9522
October 2020	4189	10081	9940
November 2020	1468	6622	10320
December 2020	1032	11011	10562
January 2021	16948	7610	7582
February 2021	11672	7521	7548
March 2021	10672	6850	7507
April 2021	8214	7188	7525
May 2021	7337	8467	7613
June 2021	4980	11364	7741
July 2021	20232	10824	7872
August 2021	8563	9506	7967
September 2021	6354	9124	8036
October 2021	3882	8698	8091
November 2021	2167	8890	8162
December 2021	832	8596	8244
January 2022	15814	7457	8310
February 2022	13643	8873	8329
March 2022	11872	8227	8291
April 2022	10045	8656	8255
May 2022	7120	8018	8292
June 2022	3774	8476	8441
July 2022	15078	8289	8683
August 2022	8942	9142	8961
September 2022	7315	9626	9184
October 2022	4527	9578	9305
November 2022	2353	9265	9345
December 2022	866	9217	9361
January 2023	16787	7887	9473
February 2023	13284	8854	9741
March 2023	15782	10418	10181
April 2023	11277	10564
May 2023	10452	11439
June 2023	5584	12130

Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

X-axis label	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 to date
<1 year old	2	2	1	1	1
1-2 years old	18	18	11	7	8
3-5 years old	50	56	56	36	29
6-9 years old	26	20	25	42	41
Over 10 years old	5	5	7	14	21

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

x-axis label	Make
Volkswagen	2763
Tesla	1931
Hyundai	1628
Kia	1033
BMW	765
Skoda	661
Audi	536
Toyota	490
Nissan	450
Renault	429
Other	3015

Table 8 Number of new electric and hybrid cars licensed for the first time by county

Table 9 Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type and county, January to June 2023

Figure 8 shows the share of new electric cars licensed from January 2023 to June 2023. In June 2023, electric cars were 19% of all new private cars licensed.

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 9 and figure 10.

X-axis label	Petrol	Diesel	Electric	PHEV	Hybrid	Other
2017	31	65	0	0	0
2018	39	54	1	1	0
2019	40	47	3	1	0
2020	37	43	5	3	0
2021	32	34	8	7	0
2022	30	27	15	7	20	1

X-axis label	Number of new electric private cars licensed	EV cars % of new cars licensed
2017	623	0
2018	1222	1
2019	3443	3
2020	3940	5
2021	8554	8
2022	15462	15

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Table 2: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation Class	June			January - June
Taxation Class	2021	2022	2023	2021	2022	2023
New vehicles
New Private Cars	4,980	3,774	5,584	59,823	62,268	73,166
New Goods Vehicles	2,664	1,604	2,404	15,005	12,522	15,600
New Tractors	180	187	171	1,465	1,408	1,438
New Motor Cycles	216	202	256	1,108	1,625	1,623
New Exempt Vehicles	235	232	337	3,129	2,875	3,384
New Other	153	93	142	849	824	1,047
Total New Vehicles	8,428	6,092	8,894	81,379	81,522	96,258

Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars	5,900	3,944	4,107	39,962	23,254	24,452
Used goods vehicles	905	677	806	5,981	4,139	4,668
Used tractors	274	193	195	2,017	1,246	1,385
Used motorcycles	330	312	306	2,007	1,669	1,578
Used other vehicles	583	526	500	3,528	2,809	2,861
Total used vehicles	7,992	5,652	5,914	53,495	33,117	34,944

Total all vehicles	16,420	11,744	14,808	134,874	114,639	131,202

Table 3B: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO₂ emission band and fuel type, January-June 2023
Band	Fuel Type							Total
Band	Petrol	Diesel	Electric	Petrol & electric hybrid	Diesel & electric hybrid	Petrol or Diesel plug-in electric hybrid	Other	Total
A	8,206	1,704	13,701	7,227	218	5,926	3	36,985
B	15,227	9,210	0	3,253	1,424	0	0	29,114
C	1,728	3,638	0	66	12	3	0	5,447
D	121	567	0	28	4	1	0	721
E	54	80	0	2	12	0	0	148
F	23	156	0	4	0	0	0	183
G	68	57	0	0	0	0	0	125
Not available	19	419	0	5	0	0	0	443
Total	25,446	15,831	13,701	10,585	1,670	5,930	3	73,166

Table 4: Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, June 2023
Make	June			January - June
Make	New	Used (imported)	Total	New	Used (imported)	Total
Audi	192	447	639	3,204	2,450	5,654
BMW	229	397	626	2,894	2,402	5,296
Citroen	78	40	118	914	274	1,188
Dacia	257	11	268	3,383	71	3,454
Fiat	33	27	60	308	193	501
Ford	257	201	458	3,864	1,431	5,295
Honda	5	266	271	148	1,507	1,655
Hyundai	348	92	440	6,565	626	7,191
Jaguar	4	12	16	56	119	175
Kia	208	56	264	5,267	373	5,640
Land Rover	17	50	67	372	358	730
Lexus	11	29	40	336	174	510
Mazda	32	82	114	745	494	1,239
Mercedes Benz	94	207	301	1,906	1,167	3,073
Mini	38	31	69	437	157	594
Mitsubishi	0	67	67	0	332	332
Nissan	80	343	423	2,547	2,012	4,559
Opel	133	1	134	2,055	4	2,059
Peugeot	139	125	264	2,753	734	3,487
Renault	233	54	287	2,378	417	2,795
Seat	147	38	185	1,617	234	1,851
Skoda	345	63	408	5,935	526	6,461
Ssangyong	2	0	2	55	1	56
Subaru	3	9	12	29	25	54
Suzuki	68	75	143	1,258	393	1,651
Tesla	833	6	839	1,931	38	1,969
Toyota	647	413	1,060	10,468	2,169	12,637
Vauxhall	0	76	76	1	504	505
Volkswagen	788	763	1,551	8,144	4,476	12,620
Volvo	110	75	185	1,415	465	1,880
Other	253	51	304	2,181	326	2,507
Total	5,584	4,107	9,691	73,166	24,452	97,618
The information in this table is available in much greater detail in Databases (see PxStat link below)

Table 5: Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation class	June 2022	May 2023	June 2023	Monthly % change
New vehicles
New private cars	8,476	11,439	12,130	6%
New goods vehicles	1,887	2,544	2,736	8%
New tractors	218	166	189	14%
New motor cycles	210	231	267	16%
New exempt vehicles	446	542	616	14%
New other	83	137	135	-1%
Total new vehicles	11,320	15,059	16,073	7%

Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars	3,876	4,003	3,989	-0%
Used goods vehicles	655	787	783	-1%
Used tractors	196	204	197	-3%
Used motorcycles	253	209	235	12%
Used other vehicles	470	467	449	-4%
Total used vehicles	5,450	5,670	5,653	-0%

Total all vehicles	16,770	20,729	21,726	5%

Table 6: Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time
Private cars	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 Jan-June
New	113,305	84,309	101,853	101,349	73,166
Used (imported)	108,895	78,541	68,042	46,567	24,452
Total	222,200	162,850	169,895	147,916	97,618
% used (imported)	49%	48%	40%	31%	25%

Vehicles licensed for the first time June 2023