CSO - Central Statistics Office Ireland

13/08/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 13/08/2024 17:11

Vehicles licensed for the first time July 2024

New electric cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024 fell by 24% compared with the same period last year

Online ISSN: 2009-5678
CSO statistical publication, 13 August 2024, 11am

Key Findings

  • The total number of new private cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024 was 3% higher than in the same period in 2023 (94,231 vs 91,272). The number of used (imported) cars licensed increased by 28% (36,753 vs 28,800) over the same period.

  • In the first seven months of 2024, 14% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 18% in the same period in 2023 (12,765 vs 16,766). This shows a 24% year-on-year fall in the number of new electric cars that were licensed in the seven month period from January to July.

  • The number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024 rose by 33% when compared with the same period in 2023 (19,230 vs 14,465). This has driven up the share (year-to-date) of hybrids among new private cars from 18% in 2023 to 22% in 2024.

  • The combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed year-to-date has remained about the same as in 2023 at 56%.

  • Toyota (2,546) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in July 2024.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (13 August 2024) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for July 2024.

Commenting on the data, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: "Today's figures from the CSO show a 24% decrease in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in the first seven months of 2024 (12,765) when compared with the same period in 2023 (16,766). In the same two periods, we see growth in the licensing of petrol & electric hybrid vehicles. The number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed increased by 33% from 14,465 in the first seven months of 2023 to 19,230 in the same period of 2024.

In the first seven months of 2024, 30,911 new cars licensed were petrol compared with 31,155 in the same period of 2023, a fall of 1%. Comparing the same seven-month periods in 2023 and 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed rose by 10% (19,653 vs 21,624).

Used Private Cars

There were 9,841 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first seven months of 2024, compared with 9,506 in the same period of 2023, an increase of 4%.

The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first seven months of 2024 was up 28% compared with the same period in 2023 (See Table 1).

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Toyota (2,546) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in July 2024, followed by Volkswagen (2,456), Hyundai (2,164), Skoda (1,600), and Kia (1,393). Together, these five makes represented more than half (55%) of all new private cars licensed in July 2024 (See Table 4).

The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in July 2024 was Volkswagen ID.4 (338), followed by Tesla Model Y (190), and Kia EV 6 (119) (See TEM28 for further information)."

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.

Cars Licensed

Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in July 2020 to July 2024

Figure 1: Private Cars Licensed for the first time

© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TEM01

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Table 1 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation Class July January - July
2023 2024 Change 2023 2024 Change
New vehicles
New Private Cars 18,106 18,512 406 2% 91,272 94,231 2,959 3%
New Goods Vehicles 2,637 2,942 305 12% 18,237 21,199 2,962 16%
New Tractors 242 203 -39 -16% 1,680 1,552 -128 -8%
New Motor Cycles 438 344 -94 -21% 2,061 1,959 -102 -5%
New Exempt Vehicles 933 861 -72 -8% 4,317 4,262 -55 -1%
New Other 185 225 40 22% 1,232 1,706 474 38%
Total New Vehicles 22,541 23,087 546 2% 118,799 124,909 6,110 5%
Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars 4,348 5,660 1,312 30% 28,800 36,753 7,953 28%
Used goods vehicles 750 944 194 26% 5,418 6,272 854 16%
Used tractors 259 229 -30 -12% 1,644 1,584 -60 -4%
Used motorcycles 279 249 -30 -11% 1,857 1,756 -101 -5%
Used other vehicles 468 637 169 36% 3,329 3,777 448 13%
Total used vehicles 6,104 7,719 1,615 26% 41,048 50,142 9,094 22%
Total all vehicles 28,645 30,806 2,161 8% 159,847 175,051 15,204 10%

Cars licensed by fuel type

Figure 2 In July 2024, 13% of all new private cars licensed were electric.

Figure 2: New private cars licensed by fuel type, February 2024 to July 2024

© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/TEM12

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Table 2 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type
Table 2 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type
July January - July
2023 Share % 2024 Share % 2023 Share % 2024 Share %
Fuel type New
Petrol 5,709 32% 5,774 31% 31,155 34% 30,911 33%
Diesel 3,822 21% 4,147 22% 19,653 22% 21,624 23%
Electric 3,065 17% 2,421 13% 16,766 18% 12,765 14%
PHEV1 1,409 8% 1,974 11% 7,339 8% 8,564 9%
Hybrid 4,101 23% 4,196 23% 16,356 18% 20,366 22%
Other 0 0% 0 0% 3 0% 1 0%
Total 18,106 100% 18,512 100% 91,272 100% 94,231 100%
Used (imported)
Petrol 1,999 46% 2,577 46% 12,494 43% 16,728 46%
Diesel 1,248 29% 1,490 26% 9,506 33% 9,841 27%
Electric 187 4% 144 3% 959 3% 997 3%
PHEV1 315 7% 696 12% 2,240 8% 4,479 12%
Hybrid 599 14% 753 13% 3,599 12% 4,706 13%
Other 0 0% 0 0% 2 0% 2 0%
Total 4,348 100% 5,660 100% 28,800 100% 36,753 100%
1 Plug-in hybrid electric vehicle

Fuel & Emissions Type

Table 3A Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, July 2024
Table 3A Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, July 2024
Band Fuel Type Total
Petrol Diesel Electric Petrol & electric hybrid Diesel & electric hybrid Petrol or Diesel plug-in electric hybrid Other
A 1,535 384 2,421 2,573 26 1,974 0 8,913
B 3,918 1,442 0 1,446 110 0 0 6,916
C 267 1987 0 19 11 0 0 2,284
D 20 154 0 5 1 0 0 180
E 5 13 0 1 0 0 0 19
F 3 48 0 0 0 0 0 51
G 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 6
Not available 23 116 0 4 0 0 0 143
Total 5,774 4,147 2,421 4,048 148 1,974 0 18,512

Table 3B Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January-July 2024
Table 3B Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January-July 2024
Band Fuel Type Total
Petrol Diesel Electric Petrol & electric hybrid Diesel & electric hybrid Petrol or Diesel plug-in electric hybrid Other
A 10,121 2,861 12,765 12,966 357 8,549 1 47,620
B 18,718 10,499 0 6,131 707 14 0 36,069
C 1,728 6,582 0 90 40 0 0 8,440
D 156 657 0 33 20 0 0 866
E 49 117 0 3 5 1 0 175
F 28 191 0 1 4 0 0 224
G 33 11 0 0 1 0 0 45
Not available 78 706 0 6 2 0 0 792
Total 30,911 21,624 12,765 19,230 1,136 8,564 1 94,231

Car Makes

Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Source: CSO Ireland14 %​Toyota​14 %​Toyota13 %Volkswagen13 %​Volkswag…​13 %Volkswagen13 %​Volkswag…12 %​Hyundai​12 %​Hyundai9 %​Skoda​9 %​Skoda8 %​Kia​8 %​Kia45 %​Other​45 %​OtherHighcharts.comFigure 3 Distribution of new car makes July 2024
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Source: CSO Ireland17 %​Toyota​17 %​Toyota9 %Volkswagen9 %​Volkswag…​9 %Volkswagen9 %​Volkswag…12 %​Hyundai​12 %​Hyundai7 %​Skoda​7 %​Skoda7 %​Kia​7 %​Kia48 %​Other​48 %​OtherHighcharts.comFigure 4 Distribution of new car makes July 2023
Most popular makes of new cars, July 2024
Toyota 14
Volkswagen 13
Hyundai 12
Skoda 9
Kia 8
Other 45
Most popular makes of new cars, July 2023
Toyota 17
Volkswagen 9
Hyundai 12
Skoda 7
Kia 7
Other 48
Table 4 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, July 2024
Table 4 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, July 2024
Make July January - July
New Used (imported) Total New Used (imported) Total
Audi 791 721 1,512 4,144 4,475 8,619
BMW 596 613 1,209 3,538 4,125 7,663
BYD 184 0 184 1,090 0 1,090
Citroen 132 56 188 871 391 1,262
Cupra 187 1 188 1,115 18 1,133
Dacia 719 9 728 3,269 73 3,342
Fiat 97 42 139 439 290 729
Ford 645 276 921 3,557 1,761 5,318
Honda 38 358 396 140 2,181 2,321
Hyundai 2,164 113 2,277 8,913 739 9,652
Jaguar 3 16 19 51 118 169
Kia 1,393 83 1,476 6,591 491 7,082
Land Rover 115 164 279 755 871 1,626
Lexus 152 47 199 724 320 1,044
Mazda 229 60 289 1,074 466 1,540
Mercedes Benz 509 349 858 2,442 2,351 4,793
Mini 96 43 139 356 262 618
Mitsubishi 0 58 58 0 411 411
Nissan 490 264 754 4,166 1,832 5,998
Opel 459 1 460 2,196 12 2,208
Peugeot 618 172 790 3,397 1,083 4,480
Renault 600 80 680 2,896 571 3,467
Seat 527 43 570 2,352 293 2,645
Skoda 1,600 115 1,715 9,200 759 9,959
Ssangyong 5 0 5 32 4 36
Subaru 2 4 6 13 35 48
Suzuki 324 62 386 1,725 441 2,166
Tesla 256 13 269 1,726 58 1,784
Toyota 2,546 451 2,997 13,664 3,049 16,713
Vauxhall 0 73 73 0 512 512
Volkswagen 2,456 1,188 3,644 10,750 7,502 18,252
Volvo 311 117 428 1,450 850 2,300
Other 268 68 336 1,595 409 2,004
Total 18,512 5,660 24,172 94,231 36,753 130,984
The information in this table is available in much greater detail in Databases (see PxStat link below)

New electric cars by make and model

Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Source: CSO Ireland14 %​Volkswagen ​ID.4​14 %​Volkswagen ​ID.48 %​Tesla ​Model Y​8 %​Tesla ​Model Y5 %​Kia ​EV 6​5 %​Kia ​EV 64 %​Hyundai​Ioniq​4 %​Hyundai​Ioniq4 %​BYD ​Seal​4 %​BYD ​Seal66 %​Other​66 %​OtherHighcharts.comFigure 5 Distribution of new electric car makes July 2024
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Source: CSO Ireland15 %​MG4​15 %​MG413 %Volkswagen ID.413 %​Volkswag…​ID.4​13 %Volkswagen ID.413 %​Volkswag…​ID.46 %​Skoda​Enyaq​6 %​Skoda​Enyaq5 %​BYD ​Atto 3​5 %​BYD ​Atto 34 %​Tesla ​Model Y​4 %​Tesla ​Model Y57 %​Other​57 %​OtherHighcharts.comFigure 6 Distribution of new car electric car makes July 2023
Most popular makes of new electric cars, July 2024
Volkswagen
ID.4 		14
Tesla
Model Y 		8
Kia
EV 6 		5
Hyundai
Ioniq 		4
BYD
Seal 		4
Other 66
Most popular makes of new electric cars, July 2023
MG4 15
Volkswagen
ID.4 		13
Skoda
Enyaq 		6
BYD
Atto 3 		5
Tesla
Model Y 		4
Other 57
Table 5 Top 20 new private cars licensed for the first time classified by fuel type and make and model, July 2024
Table 5 Top 20 new private cars licensed for the first time classified by fuel type and make and model, July 2024
Make and Model Petrol Diesel Petrol and electric hybrid Electric Petrol or Diesel plug-in hybrid electric Diesel and electric hybrid All fuel types
Hyundai Tucson 15 465 247 0 244 0 971
Volkswagen Tiguan 0 615 0 0 11 0 626
Toyota Rav4 0 0 570 0 0 0 570
Toyota Yaris Cross 0 0 569 0 0 0 569
Toyota Corolla 0 0 565 0 0 0 565
Kia Sportage 0 291 151 0 89 14 545
Skoda Octavia 163 303 21 0 0 0 487
Hyundai Kona 195 0 186 81 0 0 462
Dacia Sandero 419 0 0 0 0 0 419
Skoda Kodiaq 1 399 6 0 2 0 408
Volkswagen T-Roc 194 197 0 0 0 0 391
Hyundai i20 364 0 0 0 0 0 364
Volkswagen Golf 220 138 1 0 0 0 359
Volkswagen ID.4 0 0 0 338 0 0 338
Toyota C-HR 0 0 237 0 95 0 332
Toyota Yaris 79 0 251 0 0 0 330
Volkswagen Polo 301 0 0 0 0 0 301
Ford Puma 29 0 233 0 0 0 262
Peugeot 3008 0 11 145 80 1 0 237
Audi Q3 17 170 0 0 48 0 235

Imported Cars

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Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Chart context menuSource: CSO Ireland<1 year old1-2 years old3-5 years old6-9 years oldOver 10 years oldHighcharts.comFigure 7 Percentage of imported private cars by age group and by year of registration licensed for the first time
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024 to date
0255075
%
X-axis label 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 to date
<1 year old 2 1 1 1 1
1-2 years old 18 11 7 9 8
3-5 years old 56 56 36 29 27
6-9 years old 20 25 42 42 41
Over 10 years old 5 7 14 19 23
Table 6 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time
Table 6 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time
Private cars 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 Jan-Jul
New 84,309 101,853 101,349 117,424 94,231
Used (imported) 78,541 68,042 46,567 50,381 36,753
Total 162,850 169,895 147,916 167,805 130,984
% used (imported) 48% 40% 31% 30% 28%

Seasonally Adjusted Figures

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Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Chart context menuSource: CSO IrelandJuly 2019August 2019September 2019October 2019November 2019December 2019January 2020February 2020March 2020April 2020May 2020June 2020July 2020August 2020September 2020October 2020November 2020December 2020January 2021February 2021March 2021April 2021May 2021June 2021July 2021August 2021September 2021October 2021November 2021December 2021January 2022February 2022March 2022April 2022May 2022June 2022July 2022August 2022September 2022October 2022November 2022December 2022January 2023February 2023March 2023April 2023May 2023June 2023July 2023August 2023September 2023October 2023November 2023December 2023January 2024February 2024March 2024April 2024May 2024June 2024July 2024Highcharts.comFigure 8 Number of seasonally adjusted, unadjusted, and trends in new private cars licensed for the first time
Unadjusted data
Adjusted data
Trend
010k20k30k
%
X-axis label Unadjusted data Adjusted data Trend
July 2019 18741 8806 9114
August 2019 7202 8689 8539
September 2019 4104 7619 8126
October 2019 3214 7679 7974
November 2019 1676 8057 8027
December 2019 729 8133 8168
January 2020 20665 8766 8287
February 2020 13263 8640 8301
March 2020 10239 6940 8217
April 2020 1338 1068 1127
May 2020 1490 1783 2672
June 2020 2189 5066 5027
July 2020 15329 7346 7514
August 2020 7360 8664 8840
September 2020 5747 9123 9113
October 2020 4189 9533 9216
November 2020 1468 6423 9114
December 2020 1032 10664 8847
January 2021 16948 8305 8504
February 2021 11672 7754 8258
March 2021 10672 6592 8227
April 2021 8214 6970 8440
May 2021 7337 8689 8794
June 2021 4980 10977 9137
July 2021 20232 10364 9336
August 2021 8563 9080 9323
September 2021 6354 9402 9153
October 2021 3882 8571 8919
November 2021 2167 8743 8700
December 2021 832 8302 8530
January 2022 15814 8209 8419
February 2022 13643 9300 8330
March 2022 11872 7953 8231
April 2022 10045 8095 8134
May 2022 7120 7852 8079
June 2022 3774 8411 8148
July 2022 15078 8038 8351
August 2022 8942 8478 8633
September 2022 7315 10470 8879
October 2022 4527 9700 9026
November 2022 2353 9371 9096
December 2022 866 8764 9133
January 2023 16787 8727 9225
February 2023 13284 9202 9399
March 2023 15782 10166 9665
April 2023 11277 9763 9966
May 2023 10452 10434 10204
June 2023 5584 12789 10275
July 2023 18106 9820 10200
August 2023 11328 10441 10084
September 2023 6882 9974 9997
October 2023 4587 9575 9953
November 2023 2291 9543 9952
December 2023 1064 10658 10010
January 2024 20861 10296 10064
February 2024 13979 9551 10063
March 2024 14916 9924 9982
April 2024 12409 10261 9815
May 2024 10055 9850
June 2024 3499 8847
July 2024 18512 9252
Table 7 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Table 7 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation class July 2023 June 2024 July 2024 Monthly % change
New vehicles
New private cars 9,820 8,847 9,252 5%
New goods vehicles 2,568 2,731 2,708 -1%
New tractors 208 165 158 -4%
New motor cycles 288 232 215 -7%
New exempt vehicles 536 392 459 17%
New other 156 213 174 -18%
Total new vehicles 13,576 12,580 12,966 3%
Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars 4,261 5,405 5,185 -4%
Used goods vehicles 794 841 911 8%
Used tractors 267 223 217 -3%
Used motorcycles 267 231 222 -4%
Used other vehicles 460 548 571 4%
Total used vehicles 6,049 7,248 7,106 -2%
Total all vehicles 19,625 19,828 20,072 1%

The share of electric cars in the total number of new cars licensed grew from 1% in 2018 to 19% in 2023.

At the same time, the share of diesel cars is falling. In 2018, 54% of all new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 22% in 2023. See figure 9 and figure 10.

percent
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Chart context menuSource: CSO Ireland201820192020202120222023Highcharts.comFigure 9 Percentage of new private cars licensed by fuel type, 2018 to 2023
Petrol
Diesel
Electric
PHEV
Hybrid
Other
0255075100
%
X-axis label Petrol Diesel Electric PHEV Hybrid Other
2018 39 54 1 1 5 0
2019 40 47 3 1 8 0
2020 37 43 5 3 12 0
2021 32 34 8 7 18 0
2022 30 27 15 7 20 1
2023 33 22 19 8 17 1
null
Created with Highcharts 9.3.3Number% of new cars licensedChart context menuSource: CSO IrelandNumber of new electric private carsPercentage of all new private cars08k16k24k081624Highcharts.comFigure 10 Number and percentage of electric new private cars licensed for the first time, 2018 to 2023
201820192020202120222023
X-axis label Number of new electric private cars Percentage of all new private cars
2018 1222 1
2019 3443 3
2020 3940 5
2021 8554 8
2022 15462 15
2023 22493 19