Electric and plug-in hybrid cars continued to gain in popularity in the first five months of 2022, new data from the Central Statistics Office showed, with diesel vehicles experiencing a steady decline.
More than a fifth of new cars licensed for the first time in the first five months of the year were electric or plug-in hybrid models, while the proportion of diesel vehicles fell to 26 per cent, from 37 per cent in the same period in 2021. Year on year, the number of new electric cars licensed more than doubled in the five months to the end of May.
In May a total of 1,095 new and used electric vehicles were licensed for the first time in the State; that compared with 691 in May 2021. Registrations of diesel vehicles fell to 3,422 in May from more than 6,250 a year earlier, while petrol cars were largely flat at 3,973 in 2022 and 4,098 in the prior year.
The changing dynamics in car sales come as fuel prices continue to edge higher, now standing at more than €2 per litre for both petrol and diesel.
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But the overall number of new cars licensed for the first time in May fell by 3 per cent year on year, while the number of private used cars declined by more than a third compared with May 2021, and more than 43 per cent in the first five months of the year. The number of imported diesel cars has dropped dramatically over the early part of 2022, falling from just over 20,000 in the same period in 2021 to 7,300 this year.
“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 more than doubled from 3,678 in the first five months of 2021 to 7,825 in 2022. At the same time the number of new diesel cars is decreasing,” said statistician Nele van der Wielen. “For the first five months of 2022, 15,419 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 20,032 in the same period in 2021.”
Toyota was the most popular brand of new car in May, followed by Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda and BMW, with the combined total of the five cars accounting for more than half of the new cars registered for the first time during the month.
The car industry has been hit by a number of factors, including the chip shortage, which has hampered new car sales, Covid and Brexit, the last of which has made importing vehicles from the UK more expensive and less attractive for potential car buyers.
