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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, 16 October 2023, 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
	2022	2023	Change		2022	2023	Change
New private cars	7,315	6,882	-433	-9%	93,603	109,482	15,879	17%
New goods vehicles	2,450	2,807	357	15%	18,838	23,768	4,930	26%
New other vehicles	1,023	1,052	29	3%	10,631	11,666	1,035	10%
Total new vehicles	10,788	10,741	-47	0%	123,072	144,916	21,844	18%

Used private cars	4,378	4,232	-146	-3%	36,140	37,591	1,451	4%
Used goods vehicles	669	822	153	23%	6,021	7,088	1,067	18%
Used other vehicles	915	918	3	0%	8,503	8,714	211	2%
Total used vehicles	5,962	5,972	10	0%	50,664	53,393	2,729	5%

Open in Excel: Vehicles licensed for the first time September 2023 Table 1 (XLS 16KB)

Visit Table TEM01 on PxStat

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

Table 2 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

	Most popular makes of new cars, September 2023
Volkswagen	12
Skoda	10
Toyota	9
Kia	9
Hyundai	9
Other	51

	Most popular makes of new cars, September 2022
Volkswagen	17
Skoda	7
Toyota	6
Kia	8
Hyundai	7
Other	55

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 label	Unadjusted data	Adjusted data	Trend
September 2018	4397	9033	9196
October 2018	2874	7307	8994
November 2018	1647	8710	8943
December 2018	778	9347	9078
January 2019	22279	9092	9376
February 2019	14178	9209	9738
March 2019	14404	10514	10038
April 2019	13794	10586	10165
May 2019	9126	10045	10030
June 2019	3858	9996	9632
July 2019	18741	8709	9064
August 2019	7202	8665	8489
September 2019	4104	7568	8102
October 2019	3214	7626	7964
November 2019	1676	8022	7995
December 2019	729	8112	8090
January 2020	20665	8737	8156
February 2020	13263	8515	8134
March 2020	10239	7357	8043
April 2020	1338	1073	1096
May 2020	1490	1777	2610
June 2020	2189	4969	4937
July 2020	15329	7256	7410
August 2020	7360	8525	8732
September 2020	5747	9012	9002
October 2020	4189	9448	9108
November 2020	1468	6395	9033
December 2020	1032	10627	8796
January 2021	16948	8306	8484
February 2021	11672	7761	8260
March 2021	10672	6951	8236
April 2021	8214	7103	8436
May 2021	7337	8632	8763
June 2021	4980	10515	9067
July 2021	20232	10081	9237
August 2021	8563	8980	9217
September 2021	6354	9287	9062
October 2021	3882	8502	8861
November 2021	2167	8653	8692
December 2021	832	8522	8597
January 2022	15814	8277	8552
February 2022	13643	9121	8485
March 2022	11872	8245	8351
April 2022	10045	8342	8174
May 2022	7120	7921	8022
June 2022	3774	7662	7988
July 2022	15078	7964	8115
August 2022	8942	8365	8381
September 2022	7315	10357	8681
October 2022	4527	9420	8922
November 2022	2353	9102	9082
December 2022	866	9241	9185
January 2023	16787	8987	9330
February 2023	13284	9104	9564
March 2023	15782	10211	9873
April 2023	11277	10088	10191
May 2023	10452	10658	10416
June 2023	5584	10964	10467
July 2023	18106	9826
August 2023	11328	10360
September 2023	6882	9814

Table 5 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

X-axis label	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 to date
<1 year old	2	2	1	1	1
1-2 years old	18	18	11	7	8
3-5 years old	50	56	56	36	29
6-9 years old	26	20	25	42	42
Over 10 years old	5	5	7	14	20

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.

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 label	Petrol	Diesel	Electric	PHEV	Hybrid	Other
2017	31	65	0	0	0
2018	39	54	1	1	0
2019	40	47	3	1	0
2020	37	43	5	3	0
2021	32	34	8	7	0
2022	30	27	15	7	20	1

X-axis label	Number of new electric private cars licensed	EV cars % of new cars licensed
2017	623	0
2018	1222	1
2019	3443	3
2020	3940	5
2021	8554	8
2022	15462	15

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Table 2: Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation Class	September			January - September
Taxation Class	2021	2022	2023	2021	2022	2023
New vehicles
New Private Cars	6,354	7,315	6,882	94,972	93,603	109,482
New Goods Vehicles	3,109	2,450	2,807	23,439	18,838	23,768
New Tractors	193	186	154	2,111	2,031	2,033
New Motor Cycles	240	217	244	1,964	2,519	2,557
New Exempt Vehicles	448	507	514	5,095	4,845	5,573
New Other	185	113	140	1,331	1,236	1,503
Total New Vehicles	10,529	10,788	10,741	128,912	123,072	144,916

Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars	5,056	4,378	4,232	55,827	36,140	37,591
Used goods vehicles	818	669	822	8,459	6,021	7,088
Used tractors	222	157	194	2,723	1,808	2,018
Used motorcycles	274	259	206	2,865	2,448	2,328
Used other vehicles	559	499	518	5,220	4,247	4,368
Total used vehicles	6,929	5,962	5,972	75,094	50,664	53,393

Total all vehicles	17,458	16,750	16,713	204,006	173,736	198,309

Table 3B: Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO₂ emission band and fuel type, January-September 2023
	Fuel Type							Total
Band	Petrol	Diesel	Electric	Petrol & electric hybrid	Diesel & electric hybrid	Petrol or Diesel plug-in electric hybrid	Other	Total
A	11,921	2,723	20,517	12,326	415	9,131	3	57,036
B	21,608	13,815	0	4,769	1,674	0	1	41,867
C	2,453	5,567	0	77	19	4	0	8,120
D	190	884	0	42	9	1	0	1,126
E	78	95	0	3	15	0	0	191
F	34	216	0	5	0	0	0	255
G	86	67	0	0	0	0	0	153
Not available	37	691	0	6	0	0	0	734
Total	36,407	24,058	20,517	17,228	2,132	9,136	4	109,482

Table 4: Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, September 2023
Make	September			January - September
Make	New	Used (imported)	Total	New	Used (imported)	Total
Audi	256	468	724	4,795	3,872	8,667
BMW	344	417	761	4,154	3,591	7,745
Citroen	54	45	99	1,225	441	1,666
Dacia	193	6	199	4,403	96	4,499
Fiat	28	44	72	543	309	852
Ford	275	228	503	5,400	2,098	7,498
Honda	12	271	283	200	2,433	2,633
Hyundai	592	80	672	10,746	918	11,664
Jaguar	7	15	22	75	178	253
Kia	610	48	658	7,992	554	8,546
Land Rover	50	66	116	626	533	1,159
Lexus	49	27	76	572	261	833
Mazda	96	54	150	1,165	691	1,856
Mercedes Benz	142	233	375	2,595	1,879	4,474
Mini	54	29	83	611	258	869
Mitsubishi	0	39	39	2	475	477
Nissan	199	282	481	3,926	2,903	6,829
Opel	104	0	104	2,671	5	2,676
Peugeot	225	125	350	4,074	1,117	5,191
Renault	256	66	322	3,809	619	4,428
Seat	131	41	172	2,321	344	2,665
Skoda	722	62	784	8,827	756	9,583
Ssangyong	4	2	6	65	5	70
Subaru	2	13	15	38	49	87
Suzuki	181	51	232	1,897	587	2,484
Tesla	388	10	398	2,850	64	2,914
Toyota	624	411	1,035	15,276	3,412	18,688
Vauxhall	0	68	68	1	733	734
Volkswagen	853	883	1,736	12,211	7,184	19,395
Volvo	71	83	154	1,981	713	2,694
Other	360	65	425	4,431	513	4,944
Total	6,882	4,232	11,114	109,482	37,591	147,073
The information in this table is available in much greater detail in Databases (see PxStat link below)

Table 5: Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation class	September 2022	August 2023	September 2023	Monthly % change
New vehicles
New private cars	10,357	10,360	9,814	-5%
New goods vehicles	2,161	2,569	2,520	-2%
New tractors	220	194	184	-5%
New motor cycles	222	207	255	23%
New exempt vehicles	515	552	522	-5%
New other	114	131	144	10%
Total new vehicles	13,589	14,013	13,439	-4%

Used (imported) vehicles
Used private cars	4,039	4,167	4,043	-3%
Used goods vehicles	659	874	837	-4%
Used tractors	181	192	226	18%
Used motorcycles	249	240	211	-12%
Used other vehicles	444	468	478	2%
Total used vehicles	5,572	5,941	5,795	-2%

Total all vehicles	19,161	19,954	19,234	-4%

Table 6: Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time
Private cars	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 Jan-Sept
New	113,305	84,309	101,853	101,349	109,482
Used (imported)	108,895	78,541	68,042	46,567	37,591
Total	222,200	162,850	169,895	147,916	147,073
% used (imported)	49%	48%	40%	31%	26%

Vehicles licensed for the first time September 2023