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Vehicles licensed for the first time September 2023

50% increase in the number of new electric cars in first nine months of 2023

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

Key Findings

  • 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.

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).”

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
 September January - September
 20222023Change 20222023Change
New private cars7,3156,882-433-9% 93,603109,48215,87917%
New goods vehicles2,4502,80735715% 18,83823,7684,93026%
New other vehicles1,0231,052293% 10,63111,6661,03510%
Total new vehicles10,78810,741-470% 123,072144,91621,84418%
          
Used private cars4,3784,232-146-3%36,14037,5911,4514%
Used goods vehicles66982215323%6,0217,0881,06718%
Used other vehicles91591830%8,5038,7142112%
Total used vehicles5,9625,972100% 50,66453,3932,7295%

Tables and Graphs

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

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 2023
Volkswagen12
Skoda10
Toyota9
Kia9
Hyundai9
Other51
Most popular makes of new cars, September 2022
Volkswagen17
Skoda7
Toyota6
Kia8
Hyundai7
Other55
Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, September 2023

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

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

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
September 2018439790339196
October 2018287473078994
November 2018164787108943
December 201877893479078
January 20192227990929376
February 20191417892099738
March 2019144041051410038
April 2019137941058610165
May 201991261004510030
June 2019385899969632
July 20191874187099064
August 2019720286658489
September 2019410475688102
October 2019321476267964
November 2019167680227995
December 201972981128090
January 20202066587378156
February 20201326385158134
March 20201023973578043
April 2020133810731096
May 2020149017772610
June 2020218949694937
July 20201532972567410
August 2020736085258732
September 2020574790129002
October 2020418994489108
November 2020146863959033
December 20201032106278796
January 20211694883068484
February 20211167277618260
March 20211067269518236
April 2021821471038436
May 2021733786328763
June 20214980105159067
July 202120232100819237
August 2021856389809217
September 2021635492879062
October 2021388285028861
November 2021216786538692
December 202183285228597
January 20221581482778552
February 20221364391218485
March 20221187282458351
April 20221004583428174
May 2022712079218022
June 2022377476627988
July 20221507879648115
August 2022894283658381
September 20227315103578681
October 2022452794208922
November 2022235391029082
December 202286692419185
January 20231678789879330
February 20231328491049564
March 202315782102119873
April 2023112771008810191
May 2023104521065810416
June 202355841096410467
July 2023181069826
August 20231132810360
September 202368829814
Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

X-axis label20192020202120222023 to date
<1 year old22111
1-2 years old18181178
3-5 years old5056563629
6-9 years old2620254242
Over 10 years old5571420
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

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.

Figure 6 New private cars licensed by fuel type, April 2023 to September 2023

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 labelPetrolDieselElectricPHEVHybridOther
20173165000
20183954110
20194047310
20203743530
20213234870
20223027157201
X-axis labelNumber of new electric private cars licensedEV cars % of new cars licensed
20176230
201812221
201934433
202039405
202185548
20221546215

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