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Vehicles licensed for the first time September 2022

Number of used private cars licensed in first nine months of 2022 is down 35% compared with the same period in 2021

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

Key Findings

  • The number of new cars licensed in September 2022 rose by 961 (15%) vehicles compared with September 2021.

  • In the first nine months of 2022, 22% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) compared with 15% in the same period in 2021.

  • There was a fall of 13% in the number of used private cars licensed in September 2022 compared with September 2021.

  • In the first nine months of 2022, 27% of new private cars licensed were diesel, compared with 34% in the same period in 2021.

  • The number of used cars licensed in the first nine months of 2022 decreased by 35% compared with the same period in 2021 (36,140 versus 55,827).

  • There were 12,763 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first nine months of 2022, compared with 31,304 in the same period in 2021, a fall of 59%.

  • Volkswagen (1,244) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in September 2022.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (11 October 2022) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for September 2022.

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 81% from 7,470 in the first nine months of 2021 to 13,506 in 2022. At the same time, the number of new diesel cars is decreasing. For the first nine months of 2022, 25,113 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 32,341 in the same period in 2021.

There were 36,140 used private cars licensed in the first nine months of 2022 compared with 55,827 in the same period in 2021. The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first nine months of 2022 was down 33% compared with the same period in 2021. (See table 1)

Data also shows that Volkswagen (1,244) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in September, followed by Kia (573), Hyundai (526), Skoda (504), and Tesla (502). Together, these five makes represent almost half (46%) of all new private cars licensed in September 2022. (See table 4)”

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 September 2018 to 2022.

Table 1: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time
 September January - September
 20212022Change 20212022Change
New private cars6,3547,31596115% 94,97293,603-1,369-1%
New goods vehicles3,1092,450-659-21% 23,43918,838-4,601-20%
New other vehicles1,0661,023-43-4% 10,50110,6311301%
Total new vehicles10,52910,7882592% 128,912123,072-5,840-5%
          
Used private cars5,0564,378-678-13%55,82736,140-19,687-35%
Used goods vehicles818669-149-18%8,4596,021-2,438-29%
Used other vehicles1,055915-140-13%10,8088,503-2,305-21%
Total used vehicles6,9295,962-967-14% 75,09450,664-24,430-33%
Figure 1 Private Cars Licensed for the first time
Table 2 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

Most popular makes of new cars, September 2022
Volkswagen17
Kia8
Hyundai7
Skoda7
Tesla7
Other54
Most popular makes of new cars, September 2021
Volkswagen11
Kia7
Hyundai9
Skoda7
Tesla2
Other64
Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, September 2022

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

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

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
September 2017482899569689
October 2017325594339610
November 2017159493209617
December 201760192619708
January 201825813102799853
February 2018165011040810013
March 2018160881005210122
April 201811557985310141
May 201893621011710062
June 2018371699039919
July 201820743100869734
August 2018768194019524
September 2018439791609278
October 2018287478529048
November 2018164789818924
December 2018778110168951
January 20192227991169131
February 20191417889939395
March 201914404100619648
April 201913794108059796
May 2019912697389762
June 2019385899259539
July 20191874187839200
August 2019720290908873
September 2019410477258644
October 2019321484118545
November 2019167686018521
December 201972987438532
January 20202066588008541
February 20201326382898548
March 20201023968947006
April 2020133811071139
May 2020149017032416
June 2020218949724418
July 20201532973136939
August 2020736091529370
September 20205747933810966
October 202041891080411232
November 20201468679810819
December 202010321105310489
January 202116948816010194
February 20211167271129930
March 20211067268159700
April 2021821471409534
May 2021733785199441
June 20214980109379409
July 202120232104549391
August 2021856396509320
September 2021635493979171
October 2021388295128943
November 2021216790958703
December 202183285918480
January 20221581479818290
February 20221364381928144
March 20221187282388062
April 20221004583858080
May 2022712080098221
June 2022377484068487
July 2022150788172
August 202289429358
September 202273159984
Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

X-axis label20182019202020212022 to date
<1 year old1.91.71.61.10.7
1-2 years old18.317.617.711.46.6
3-5 years old50.850.356.35635.6
6-9 years old24.425.619.824.943.1
Over 10 years old4.64.84.76.614
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