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Vehicles licensed for the first time May 2022

The number of new electric cars licensed has more than doubled in the first five months of 2022 compared with same period in 2021

Online ISSN: 2009-5678

CSO statistical publication, 08 June 2022, 11am

Key Findings

In the first five months of 2022, 21% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).
The number of new cars licensed in May 2022 fell by 217 (-3%) vehicles compared with May 2021.
In the first five months of 2022, 26% of new private cars licensed were diesel, compared with 37% in the same period in 2021.
There was a fall of 2,403 (-37%) used private cars licensed in May 2022 compared with May 2021.
The number of used cars licensed in the first five months of 2022 decreased by 43% compared with the same period in 2021 (19,310 versus 34,062).
There were 7,307 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first five months of 2022, compared with 20,057 in the same period in 2021.
Toyota (1,033) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in May 2022.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (8 June 2022) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for May 2022.

Commenting on the data, Nele van der Wielen, 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 more than doubled from 3,678 in the first five months of 2021 to 7,825 in 2022. At the same time the number of new diesel cars is decreasing. For the first five months of 2022, 15,419 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 20,032 in the same period in 2021.”

Data also shows that Toyota (1,033) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed followed by Volkswagen (896), Hyundai (876), Skoda (507) and BMW (439). Together these five makes represent more than half (53%) of all new private cars licensed in May 2022.”

Table 1: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time
	May				January - May
	2021	2022	Change		2021	2022	Change
New private cars	7,337	7,120	-217	-3%	54,843	58,494	3,651	7%
New goods vehicles	2,953	2,212	-741	-25%	12,341	10,918	-1,423	-12%
New other vehicles	1,091	1,136	45	4%	5,767	6,018	251	4%
Total new vehicles	11,381	10,468	-913	-8%	72,951	75,430	2,479	3%

Used private cars	6,426	4,023	-2,403	-37%	34,062	19,310	-14,752	-43%
Used goods vehicles	960	709	-251	-26%	5,076	3,462	-1,614	-32%
Used other vehicles	1,345	1,176	-169	-13%	6,365	4,693	-1,672	-26%
Total used vehicles	8,731	5,908	-2,823	-32%	45,503	27,465	-18,038	-40%

Open in Excel: Vehicles licensed for the first time May 2022 Table 1 (XLS 11KB)

Visit Table TEM01 on PxStat

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.

Tables and Graphs

Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in May 2018 to 2022.

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

	Most popular makes of new cars, May 2022
Toyota	15
Volkswagen	13
Hyundai	12
Skoda	7
BMW	6
Other	47

	Most popular makes of new cars, May 2021
Toyota	11
Volkswagen	13
Hyundai	7
Skoda	10
BMW	5
Other	54

Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, May 2022

Table 3B Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January-May 2022

Table 4 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, May 2022

X-axis label	Unadjusted data	Adjusted data	Trend
May 2017	9581	10401	10632
June 2017	3585	9043	10497
July 2017	21316	10820	10294
August 2017	8105	9921	10046
September 2017	4828	10001	9804
October 2017	3255	9408	9651
November 2017	1594	9334	9624
December 2017	601	9310	9734
January 2018	25813	10397	9917
February 2018	16501	10706	10078
March 2018	16088	10163	10130
April 2018	11557	9933	10058
May 2018	9362	10076	9884
June 2018	3716	9273	9680
July 2018	20743	9758	9489
August 2018	7681	9224	9331
September 2018	4397	9261	9182
October 2018	2874	7786	9080
November 2018	1647	9034	9065
December 2018	778	11216	9162
January 2019	22279	9327	9351
February 2019	14178	9376	9557
March 2019	14404	10205	9676
April 2019	13794	11015	9648
May 2019	9126	9659	9447
June 2019	3858	9020	9118
July 2019	18741	8312	8770
August 2019	7202	8766	8526
September 2019	4104	8007	8437
October 2019	3214	8331	8490
November 2019	1676	8687	8618
December 2019	729	9037	8777
January 2020	20665	9099	8945
February 2020	13263	8841	9137
March 2020	10239	7118	7237
April 2020	1338	1129	1135
May 2020	1490	1697	2339
June 2020	2189	4309	4187
July 2020	15329	6666	6506
August 2020	7360	8697	8807
September 2020	5747	10140	10481
October 2020	4189	10807	11057
November 2020	1468	6920	11032
December 2020	1032	11579	11083
January 2021	16948	8510	11205
February 2021	11672	7700	7516
March 2021	10672	7171	7718
April 2021	8214	7422	8006
May 2021	7337	8585	8371
June 2021	4980	9002	8771
July 2021	20232	9074	9136
August 2021	8563	9271	9390
September 2021	6354	10810	9502
October 2021	3882	9615	9473
November 2021	2167	9432	9360
December 2021	832	9087	9197
January 2022	15814	8358	9013
February 2022	13643	8915	8849
March 2022	11872	8780
April 2022	10045	8836
May 2022	7120	8172

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

X-axis label	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022 to date
<1 year old	1.9	1.7	1.6	1.1	0.6
1-2 years old	18.3	17.6	17.7	11.4	6.3
3-5 years old	50.8	50.3	56.3	56	35
6-9 years old	24.4	25.6	19.8	24.9	43.7
Over 10 years old	4.6	4.8	4.7	6.6	14.5

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

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Table 2: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation Class	May			January - May
Taxation Class	2020	2021	2022	2020	2021	2022
New vehicles
New Private Cars	1,490	7,337	7,120	46,995	54,843	58,494
New Goods Vehicles	744	2,953	2,212	8,827	12,341	10,918
New Tractors	198	266	288	1,088	1,285	1,221
New Motor Cycles	86	262	280	631	892	1,423
New Exempt Vehicles	279	429	410	2,602	2,894	2,643
New Other	34	134	158	534	696	731
Total New Vehicles	2,831	11,381	10,468	60,677	72,951	75,430

Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars	1,170	6,426	4,023	22,843	34,062	19,310
Used goods vehicles	343	960	709	4,085	5,076	3,462
Used tractors	122	361	247	896	1,743	1,053
Used motorcycles	82	364	379	1,032	1,677	1,357
Used other vehicles	116	620	550	1,684	2,945	2,283
Total used vehicles	1,833	8,731	5,908	30,540	45,503	27,465

Total all vehicles	4,664	20,112	16,376	91,217	118,454	102,895

Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO₂ emission band and fuel type, May 2022
Band	Fuel Type							Total
Band	Petrol	Diesel	Electric	Petrol & electric hybrid	Diesel & electric hybrid	Petrol or Diesel plug-in electric hybrid	Other	Total
A	527	206	1,077	895	24	449	4	3,182
B	1,401	1,280	0	264	36	0	21	3,002
C	240	406	0	32	3	1	2	684
D	28	96	0	8	6	0	0	138
E	7	38	0	4	3	0	0	52
F	0	16	0	0	0	0	0	16
G	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	6
Not available	5	35	0	0	0	0	0	40
Total	2,212	2,079	1,077	1,203	72	450	27	7,120

Table 3B: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO₂ emission band and fuel type, January-May 2022
Band	Fuel Type							Total
Band	Petrol	Diesel	Electric	Petrol & electric hybrid	Diesel & electric hybrid	Petrol or Diesel plug-in electric hybrid	Other	Total
A	4,035	1,903	7,825	9,087	79	4,483	369	27,781
B	9,995	9,560	0	4,019	166	48	232	24,020
C	1,941	2,861	0	121	205	82	9	5,219
D	166	488	0	46	19	0	0	719
E	29	224	0	23	26	0	0	302
F	13	102	0	4	0	0	0	119
G	36	21	0	2	0	0	0	59
Not available	12	260	0	2	1	0	0	275
Total	16,227	15,419	7,825	13,304	496	4,613	610	58,494

Table 4: Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, May 2022
Make	May			January - May
Make	New	Used (imported)	Total	New	Used (imported)	Total
Audi	335	353	688	2,340	1,735	4,075
BMW	439	423	862	2,348	1,909	4,257
Citroen	106	40	146	817	231	1,048
Dacia	183	13	196	1,317	61	1,378
Fiat	21	38	59	196	239	435
Ford	364	262	626	3,173	1,275	4,448
Honda	17	244	261	227	1,059	1,286
Hyundai	876	101	977	7,779	598	8,377
Jaguar	21	23	44	90	135	225
Kia	409	46	455	4,596	328	4,924
Land Rover	27	36	63	244	214	458
Lexus	15	45	60	293	187	480
Mazda	40	62	102	632	254	886
Mercedes Benz	308	213	521	2,034	998	3,032
Mini	66	24	90	309	148	457
Mitsubishi	0	65	65	1	227	228
Nissan	302	314	616	2,611	1,455	4,066
Opel	192	0	192	1,537	3	1,540
Peugeot	273	98	371	2,825	439	3,264
Renault	212	52	264	2,057	313	2,370
Seat	131	43	174	957	240	1,197
Skoda	507	74	581	4,049	408	4,457
Ssangyong	14	1	15	28	5	33
Subaru	1	2	3	6	23	29
Suzuki	72	73	145	642	315	957
Tesla	13	1	14	686	15	701
Toyota	1,033	456	1,489	10,406	1,977	12,383
Vauxhall	0	92	92	0	599	599
Volkswagen	896	731	1,627	4,627	3,437	8,064
Volvo	85	65	150	921	316	1,237
Other	162	33	195	746	167	913
Total	7,120	4,023	11,143	58,494	19,310	77,804
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	May 2021	April 2022	May 2022	Monthly % change
New vehicles
New private cars	8,585	8,836	8,172	-8%
New goods vehicles	2,568	1,777	1,843	4%
New tractors	203	191	204	7%
New motor cycles	222	255	231	-9%
New exempt vehicles	446	453	408	-10%
New other	115	117	131	12%
Total new vehicles	12,139	11,629	10,989	-6%

Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars	6,311	3,758	3,778	1%
Used goods vehicles	927	676	659	-3%
Used tractors	288	177	191	8%
Used motorcycles	265	258	258	0%
Used other vehicles	559	468	475	1%
Total used vehicles	8,350	5,337	5,361	0%

Total all vehicles	20,489	16,966	16,350	-4%

Vehicles licensed for the first time May 2022