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Vehicles licensed for the first time May 2024

New private cars licensed in the first five months of 2024 increased by 7% compared with the same period last year

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

The headline of this release was updated at 14.20, 12 June 2024 (day of publish) after an error in the percentage of new private cars licensed in the first five months of 2024 was identified. All other data in this release is correct. We apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Key Findings

  • In the first five months of 2024, 13% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 18% in the same period in 2023.

  • Almost a quarter (23%) of new private cars licensed in the first five months of 2024 were diesel compared with 22% in the same period in 2023.

  • The number of petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed in the first five months of 2024 increased by 49% compared with the same period in 2023 (14,712 versus 9,864).

  • The number of electric cars licensed in the first five months of 2024 decreased by 20% compared to the same period in 2023 (9,458 vs 11,918).

  • The number of used cars licensed in the first five months of 2024 increased by 27% compared with the same period in 2023 (25,865 versus 20,345).

  • There were 6,945 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first five months of 2024, compared with 7,087 in first five months of 2023, a fall of 2%.

  • Volkswagen (1,885) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in May 2024.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (12 June 2024) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for May 2024. 

Commenting on the data, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show growth in the licensing of petrol & electric hybrid vehicles. The number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed increased by 49% from 9,864 in the first five months of 2023 to 14,712 in the same period of 2024. In the same two periods, electric cars licensed for the first time decreased by 20% (11,918 vs 9,458).  In the first five months of 2024, 24,009 new cars licensed were petrol compared with 23,944 in the same period in 2023, up less than 1%. Comparing the same five-month periods in 2023 and 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed has risen by 15%.

Used Private Cars

There were 6,945 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in the first five months of 2024, compared with 7,087 in the same period of 2023, a fall of 2%.

The total number of used vehicles licensed in the first five months of 2024 was up 22% compared with the same period in 2023 (See Table 1).

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Volkswagen (1,885) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in May 2024, followed by Toyota (1,119), Skoda (697), Hyundai (669), and Dacia (543). Together, these five makes represented almost half (49%) of all new private cars licensed in May 2024 (See Table 4).

The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in May 2024 was Volkswagen ID.4 (256), followed by Tesla Model Y (172), and BMW iX (69) (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.
Table 1: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time
 May January - May
 20232024Change 20232024Change
New private cars10,45210,055-397-4% 67,58272,2204,6387%
New goods vehicles3,0873,2962097% 13,19616,0242,82821%
New other vehicles1,2141,45123720% 6,5867,1215358%
Total new vehicles14,75314,802490% 87,36495,3658,0019%
          
Used private cars4,3235,5921,26929%20,34525,8655,52027%
Used goods vehicles9001,03813815%3,8624,53867618%
Used other vehicles1,1551,235807%4,8234,9541313%
Total used vehicles6,3787,8651,48723% 29,03035,3576,32722%

Cars Licensed

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

Figure 1 Private Cars Licensed for the first time
Table 2 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

Fuel & Emissions Type

Table 3A: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, May 2024

Table 3B Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January-May 2024

Car Makes

Most popular makes of new cars, May 2024
Volkswagen 19
Toyota 11
Skoda 7
Hyundai 7
Dacia 5
Other51
Most popular makes of new cars, May 2023
Volkswagen 15
Toyota 13
Skoda 7
Hyundai 5
Dacia 5
Other55
Table 4 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, May 2024

Seasonally Adjusted Figures

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
May 20199126975510019
June 20193858101749745
July 20191874192499272
August 2019720288018730
September 2019410475438295
October 2019321476608070
November 2019167680288034
December 201972980578114
January 20202066586658219
February 20201326384978248
March 20201023968578173
April 2020133810691097
May 2020149017042719
June 2020218951965223
July 20201532977207804
August 2020736088039033
September 2020574790829140
October 2020418994749157
November 2020146863839013
December 20201032104478713
January 20211694881608314
February 20211167277857944
March 20211067265437703
April 2021821470627643
May 2021733781947725
June 20214980109967869
July 202120232107098002
August 2021856393068072
September 2021635493458079
October 2021388285448036
November 2021216786687990
December 202183281867969
January 20221581480217944
February 20221364393287916
March 20221187278987879
April 20221004582807858
May 2022712076757890
June 2022377478418037
July 20221507882688292
August 2022894285658590
September 20227315104488834
October 2022452795728982
November 2022235393119049
December 202286686219082
January 20231678786699201
February 20231328494349442
March 202315782102089780
April 202311277989410134
May 2023104521048710392
June 202355841102210446
July 202318106988810322
August 2023113281043510137
September 2023688298839984
October 2023458795499898
November 2023229194879897
December 20231064105849970
January 2024208611029210070
February 202413979987310154
March 2024149169999
April 20241240910448
May 20241005510188
Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

Imported Cars

X-axis label20202021202220232024 to date
<1 year old21110
1-2 years old1811798
3-5 years old5656362927
6-9 years old2025424241
Over 10 years old57141924
Table 6 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time

Cars Licensed by Fuel Type

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 private cars licensed by fuel type from December 2023 to May 2024. In May 2024, electric cars were 12% of all new private cars licensed.

Figure 6 New private cars licensed by fuel type, December 2023 to May 2024

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 7 and figure 8.

X-axis labelPetrolDieselElectricPHEVHybridOther
201839541150
201940473180
2020374353120
2021323487180
20223027157201
20233322198171
X-axis labelNumber of new electric private carsPercentage of all new private cars
201812221
201934433
202039405
202185548
20221546215
20232249319

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