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Vehicles licensed for the first time March 2024

New petrol & electric cars up by 59% in first three months of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023

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

Key Findings

  • The number of new cars licensed in March 2024 decreased by 866 vehicles (-5%) compared with March 2023.

  • In the first three months of 2024, 14% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 16% in the same period in 2023.

  • Over one-fifth (23%) of new private cars licensed in the first three months of 2024 were diesel compared with over a quarter (22%) in the same period in 2023.

  • The number of used cars licensed in the first three months of 2024 increased by 25% compared with the same period in 2023 (14,874 versus 11,877).

  • There were 4,026 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first three months of 2024, compared with 4,395 in first three months of 2023, a fall of 8%.

  • Skoda (1,959) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in March 2024.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (10 April 2024) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for March 2024.

Commenting on the data, Damien Linehan, 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 petrol & electric cars licensed increased by 59% from 7,032 in the first three months of 2023 to 11,202 in the first three months of 2024. In the first three months of 2024, 15,284 new cars licensed were petrol cars compared with 16,292 in the same period in 2023, a decrease of 6%. At the same time, new diesel cars licensed have increased by 14% in the same period.

Used Private Cars

There were 4,026 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first three months of 2024, compared with 4,395 in the first three months of 2023, a fall of 8%. The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first three months of 2024 was up 19% compared with the same period in 2023. (See Table 1)

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Skoda (1,959) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in March 2024, followed by Toyota (1,865), Volkswagen (1,852), Hyundai (1,082) and Kia (987). Together, these five makes represent just over half (52%) of all new private cars licensed in March 2024 (See Table 4).

The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in March 2024 was Tesla Model Y (234) followed by Tesla Model 3 (189)  and MG4 (106) (See TEM28 for further information)

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.
Table 1: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time
 March January - March
 20232024Change 20232024Change
New private cars15,78214,916-866-5% 45,85349,7563,9039%
New goods vehicles2,8702,87221% 7,7218,8081,08714%
New other vehicles1,5271,432-95-6% 4,1474,244972%
Total new vehicles20,17919,220-959-5% 57,72162,8085,0879%
          
Used private cars4,5295,28075117%11,87714,8742,99525%
Used goods vehicles86987120%2,1872,47428713%
Used other vehicles1,097929-168-15%2,6682,560-108-4%
Total used vehicles6,4957,0805859% 16,73219,9083,17619%

Cars Licensed

Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in March 2020 to March 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 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, March 2024

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

Car Makes

Most popular makes of new cars, March 2024
Skoda 13
Toyota13
Volkswagen 12
Hyundai7
Kia7
Other48
Most popular makes of new cars, March 2023
Skoda 10
Toyota13
Volkswagen10
Hyundai6
Kia8
Other52
Table 4 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, March 2024

Seasonally Adjusted Figures

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
March 201914404100559858
April 2019137941060710042
May 20199126975910021
June 20193858101739759
July 20191874192669300
August 2019720288098767
September 2019410474918334
October 2019321476688103
November 2019167680288058
December 201972980588129
January 20202066586688229
February 20201326385088259
March 20201023968478188
April 2020133810691099
May 2020149017042723
June 2020218952055227
July 20201532977237804
August 2020736088039026
September 2020574790429129
October 2020418994739145
November 2020146863739004
December 20201032104228712
January 20211694881518323
February 20211167278017963
March 20211067265267728
April 2021821470937670
May 2021733782017747
June 20214980110067882
July 202120232107148004
August 2021856393028064
September 2021635493088062
October 2021388285248011
November 2021216786527960
December 202183281437939
January 20221581479997921
February 20221364393457905
March 20221187278817882
April 20221004583757871
May 2022712076707908
June 2022377478438048
July 20221507882698289
August 2022894285558571
September 20227315104128806
October 2022452795318948
November 2022235392609018
December 202286685499064
January 20231678786259204
February 20231328494319468
March 202315782101779824
April 2023112771011710186
May 2023104521047710438
June 202355841103110476
July 202318106990110326
August 2023113281040610110
September 2023688298269930
October 2023458794859832
November 2023229194079824
December 20231064104749886
January 20242086110220
February 2024139799841
March 2024149169968
Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

Imported Cars

X-axis label20202021202220232024 to date
<1 year old21110
1-2 years old1811798
3-5 years old5656362927
6-9 years old2025424241
Over 10 years old57141924
Table 6 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time

Cars Licensed by Fuel Type

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 private cars licensed by fuel type from October 2023 to March 2024. In March 2024, electric cars were 13% of all new private cars licensed.

Figure 6 New private cars licensed by fuel type, October 2023 to March 2024

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 7 and figure 8.

X-axis labelPetrolDieselElectricPHEVHybridOther
201839541150
201940473180
2020374353120
2021323487180
20223027157201
20233322198171
X-axis labelNumber of new electric private carsPercentage of all new private cars
201812221
201934433
202039405
202185548
20221546215
20232249319

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