The second half of 2022 got off to a "disappointing" start, according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), following a 17.3% decline in new car registrations in July.
A total of 21,900 new cars were registered in July 2022, down from 26,480 a year earlier and 24,680 (-11.3%) from pre-Covid levels in July 2019, in what was the first month for 222 vehicle registrations.
During the year to date, registrations are down 3.6% year-on-year, falling from 90,330 to 87,075.
New registrations of light commercial vehicles fell 14.8% from last July to 4,040 and 21.4% from the first seven months of 2021 to 17,100. Heavy goods vehicle registrations fell 1.6% from last July to 317, and for the year to date HGV sales were down 9.4% to 1,675.
Meanwhile, used car imports fell 21.3% from last July to 4,210. For the year to date, imports have fallen 31.1% compared to the first seven months of 2021 from 41,100 to 28,320.
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Electric vehicles bucked the larger trend, with sales increasing from 1,900 last July to 2,740, and a total of 11,180 new electric cars have been registered so far this year, compared to 6,230 during the same period of 2021, an increase of 79.6%.
Electric vehicle, plug-in hybrids and hybrids now have a combined market share of 40.9%, compared to petrol's 29.3% and diesel's 27.5%. Hybrid vehicles now make up 21.2% of registrations, with electric accounting for 12.8%, and plug-in electric hybrids 6.8%.
"The electric vehicle segment continues to grow, both in quantum and as a proportion of the new car market, with an 80% year on year growth and a market share of 13%. While it appears that there is appetite among consumers for both new and used cars, supply issues are hampering overall activity," said Brian Cooke, director general of SIMI.
"The impact of this is another year of below par performance in the Irish new car market, which results in the Irish car fleet continuing to get older. The underlying new car market needs to grow significantly over the next few years if we are to optimise transport emission reductions.
"Government policies must contain the right measures, to support and encourage the change to lower and zero emitting vehicles. Reducing EV supports or increasing taxation will only act as a barrier to change and add to the cost of living.
"In this context, SIMI is asking the government to continue its support for the EV project by extending EV supports at current levels out to 2025 and to resist any VRT increases in Budget 2023 which will only prove counterproductive and prevent us dealing with the legacy fleet in an effective manner that supports a just transition.”
The five top selling car brands this year to data are Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia and Skoda, and Hyundai Tuscon is the top selling model ahead of the Toyota Corolla, Toyota C-HR, Kia Sportage and Toyota RAV 4.
In terms of electric vehicles, the VW ID.4 is the year's top seller, beating out the Hundai Iconiq, Kia EV6, VW ID.3 and Nissan Lead.
