The number of new cars licensed in September 2023 decreased by 433 vehicles (-9%) compared with September 2022.
In the first nine months of 2023, 19% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 14% in the same period in 2022.
Slightly over one-fifth (22%) of new private cars licensed in January to September of 2023 were diesel compared with over a quarter (27%) in the same period in 2022.
The number of used cars licensed in the first nine months of 2023 increased by 4% compared with the same period in 2022 (37,591 versus 36,140).
There were 11,916 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first nine months of 2023, compared with 12,763 in first nine months of 2022, a fall of 7%.
Volkswagen (853) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in September 2023.
Registration and licensing figures may differ in a given month for a number of reasons, some of which are outlined below:
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 | |||||||||
September | January - September | ||||||||
2022 | 2023 | Change | 2022 | 2023 | Change | ||||
New private cars | 7,315 | 6,882 | -433 | -9% | 93,603 | 109,482 | 15,879 | 17% | |
New goods vehicles | 2,450 | 2,807 | 357 | 15% | 18,838 | 23,768 | 4,930 | 26% | |
New other vehicles | 1,023 | 1,052 | 29 | 3% | 10,631 | 11,666 | 1,035 | 10% | |
Total new vehicles | 10,788 | 10,741 | -47 | 0% | 123,072 | 144,916 | 21,844 | 18% | |
Used private cars | 4,378 | 4,232 | -146 | -3% | 36,140 | 37,591 | 1,451 | 4% | |
Used goods vehicles | 669 | 822 | 153 | 23% | 6,021 | 7,088 | 1,067 | 18% | |
Used other vehicles | 915 | 918 | 3 | 0% | 8,503 | 8,714 | 211 | 2% | |
Total used vehicles | 5,962 | 5,972 | 10 | 0% | 50,664 | 53,393 | 2,729 | 5% |
Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in September 2019 to September 2023
Most popular makes of new cars, September 2023 | |
Volkswagen | 12 |
Skoda | 10 |
Toyota | 9 |
Kia | 9 |
Hyundai | 9 |
Other | 51 |
Most popular makes of new cars, September 2022 | |
Volkswagen | 17 |
Skoda | 7 |
Toyota | 6 |
Kia | 8 |
Hyundai | 7 |
Other | 55 |
X-axis label | Unadjusted data | Adjusted data | Trend |
---|---|---|---|
September 2018 | 4397 | 9033 | 9196 |
October 2018 | 2874 | 7307 | 8994 |
November 2018 | 1647 | 8710 | 8943 |
December 2018 | 778 | 9347 | 9078 |
January 2019 | 22279 | 9092 | 9376 |
February 2019 | 14178 | 9209 | 9738 |
March 2019 | 14404 | 10514 | 10038 |
April 2019 | 13794 | 10586 | 10165 |
May 2019 | 9126 | 10045 | 10030 |
June 2019 | 3858 | 9996 | 9632 |
July 2019 | 18741 | 8709 | 9064 |
August 2019 | 7202 | 8665 | 8489 |
September 2019 | 4104 | 7568 | 8102 |
October 2019 | 3214 | 7626 | 7964 |
November 2019 | 1676 | 8022 | 7995 |
December 2019 | 729 | 8112 | 8090 |
January 2020 | 20665 | 8737 | 8156 |
February 2020 | 13263 | 8515 | 8134 |
March 2020 | 10239 | 7357 | 8043 |
April 2020 | 1338 | 1073 | 1096 |
May 2020 | 1490 | 1777 | 2610 |
June 2020 | 2189 | 4969 | 4937 |
July 2020 | 15329 | 7256 | 7410 |
August 2020 | 7360 | 8525 | 8732 |
September 2020 | 5747 | 9012 | 9002 |
October 2020 | 4189 | 9448 | 9108 |
November 2020 | 1468 | 6395 | 9033 |
December 2020 | 1032 | 10627 | 8796 |
January 2021 | 16948 | 8306 | 8484 |
February 2021 | 11672 | 7761 | 8260 |
March 2021 | 10672 | 6951 | 8236 |
April 2021 | 8214 | 7103 | 8436 |
May 2021 | 7337 | 8632 | 8763 |
June 2021 | 4980 | 10515 | 9067 |
July 2021 | 20232 | 10081 | 9237 |
August 2021 | 8563 | 8980 | 9217 |
September 2021 | 6354 | 9287 | 9062 |
October 2021 | 3882 | 8502 | 8861 |
November 2021 | 2167 | 8653 | 8692 |
December 2021 | 832 | 8522 | 8597 |
January 2022 | 15814 | 8277 | 8552 |
February 2022 | 13643 | 9121 | 8485 |
March 2022 | 11872 | 8245 | 8351 |
April 2022 | 10045 | 8342 | 8174 |
May 2022 | 7120 | 7921 | 8022 |
June 2022 | 3774 | 7662 | 7988 |
July 2022 | 15078 | 7964 | 8115 |
August 2022 | 8942 | 8365 | 8381 |
September 2022 | 7315 | 10357 | 8681 |
October 2022 | 4527 | 9420 | 8922 |
November 2022 | 2353 | 9102 | 9082 |
December 2022 | 866 | 9241 | 9185 |
January 2023 | 16787 | 8987 | 9330 |
February 2023 | 13284 | 9104 | 9564 |
March 2023 | 15782 | 10211 | 9873 |
April 2023 | 11277 | 10088 | 10191 |
May 2023 | 10452 | 10658 | 10416 |
June 2023 | 5584 | 10964 | 10467 |
July 2023 | 18106 | 9826 | |
August 2023 | 11328 | 10360 | |
September 2023 | 6882 | 9814 |
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 | 42 |
Over 10 years old | 5 | 5 | 7 | 14 | 20 |
Figure 6 shows the share of new electric cars licensed from April 2023 to September 2023. In September 2023, electric cars were one-fifth (22%) 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 7 and figure 8.
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 |
Check the rankings of new vehicles for the most recent month as well as year
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 October 2023) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for September 2023.
Commenting on the data, Dr 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 more than half (52%) from 13,506 in January to September of 2022 to 20,517 in the same period of 2023. In the period January to September 2023, 36,407 new cars licensed were petrol cars compared with 27,915 in the same period in 2022, an increase of 30%. At the same time, new diesel cars licensed have decreased by 4% in the same period.
Used Private Cars
There were 11,916 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first nine months of 2023, compared with 12,763 in the same period in 2022, a fall of 7%.
The total number of used vehicles licensed in the period January to September 2023 was up 4% compared with the same period in 2022 (See table 1).
Most Popular Car Brands
Data also shows that Volkswagen (853) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in September 2023, followed by Skoda (722), Toyota (624), Kia (610) and Hyundai (592).
Together, these five makes represent just under a half (49%) of all new private cars licensed in September 2023 (See table 4).”