The number of new cars licensed in September rose by 961 or 15% compared to the same month in 2021, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.
A total of 7,315 new cars were licensed in September, up from 6,354 in September 2021, but there were annual reductions in registrations of new goods vehicles (2,450) and new other vehicles (1,023), which fell 21% and 4%, respectively.
For the first nine months of 2022, some 93,603 new private cars were licensed, a decline of 1,369 or -1% from the first three quarters of 2021, with a 20% reduction in sales of new goods vehicles (18,838) and a 1% fall in sales of new other vehicles.
Overall, 10,788 new vehicles were registered in September, equating to an increase of 259 or 2% and 123,072 were registered from January to September, representing a decline of 5,840 or 5%.
Meanwhile, the number of used private cars licensed last month fell by 678 or 13% year-on-year from 5,056 to 4,378, indicating the decline in the used market is slowing following a 35% drop (-19,687) in used car registrations this year to date from 55,827 to 36,140.
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Registration of used goods vehicles and used other vehicles also saw smaller declines in September (-18% and -13%) compared to their year to date trend (-29% and -21%).
The CSO highlighted that 22% of new cars licensed for the first time this year were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, up from 15% through the first three quarters of 2021, while diesel cars' share fell from 34% to 27%.
"Today’s figures from the CSO show the continued growth in the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles licensed in Ireland," said CSO transport section statistician Nele van der Wielen.
"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.
Of the 93,603 new private cars licensed between January and September, 27,915 were petrol, 25,113 were diesel, 13,506 were electric, and 18,505 were petrol and electric hybrid.
Volkswagen was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in September 2022, taking a 17% share of the market, ahead of Kia (8%), Hyundai, Skoda and Tesla (all 7%).
"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)," van der Wielen added.
"Together, these five makes represent almost half (46%) of all new private cars licensed in September 2022.
(Pic: Getty Images)
