January new car registrations up 9.4%; Record month for EV sales

01/02/2023

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) today released their official 231 new vehicle registrations statistics for January. 

New car registrations for the month of January were up 9.4% (27,364) when compared to January 2022 (25,014).

Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) are up 10.1% (5,559) compared to January last year (5,051). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also showing an increase of 52.5% (424) in comparison to January 2022 (278).

Imported Used Cars seen a 6.3% (3,786) decrease in January 2023, when compared to January 2022 (4,041).

New electric car registrations reached their highest month on record with 3,682 registered in January 2023 (+36.5%), compared to 2,697 January 2022 and now account for 13.5% of the marketplace

Automatic transmissions have risen in popularity, with a 58.11% of market share, while manual transmissions now account for 41.81%. The hatchback is Ireland’s top selling car body type of 2023.

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General commenting: 

New car registrations for the month of January are 9.4% ahead of last year. While this is an important step in the right direction for the Industry, both in terms of new cars and the additional trade-ins generated to supply the used car market, sales still remain 15% behind Pre-Covid January 2019. Sales of commercial vehicles both Light (LCV) and Heavy (HGVs), are also showing an increase on last year.  Even more positively the sale of new Electric Vehicles (EVs) have shown a promising start to the year with 3,682 registrations, a record monthly total. With supply chains improving, we anticipate continuing growth in the EV market, although this will not only be down to vehicle supply but also to the level of Government supports.
​​​​​​​
We are still in the early stages of the EV project and the recent announcement of increased funding by the State for the national charging infrastructure will help allay range anxiety concerns and encourage more motorists to look at an EV. However, this increased investment must not be at the expense of purchase supports, which are essential to encouraging the behavioural change required to convince more consumers to go electric. The extension of grants, reduced tolling charges and VRT reliefs, as well as halting the reduction in the EV Benefit-In-Kind reliefs, should be on the agenda. We recognise that supports cannot remain in place indefinitely, however any early erosion or reduction in supports could risk EV supply levels and also reduce sales growth at a key time in the evolution of market, which would also delay the creation of an active used EV market.”

Vehicle Stats 2023

• New Car sales total January (2023) 27,364 v (2022) 25,014 +9.4%  
• New Car sales total January (2023) 27,364 v (2019) 32,370 -15.5%  
• Light Commercial Vehicles sales total January (2023) 5,559 v (2022) 5,051 +10.1% 
• Light Commercial Vehicles sales total January (2023) 5,559 v (2019) 5,548 +0.2% 
• Heavy Goods Vehicle total sales January (2023) 424 v (2022) 278 +52.5% 
• Heavy Goods Vehicle total sales January (2023) 424 v (2019) 294 +44.2% 
• New Busses/ Coaches total sales January (2023) 37 v (2022) 54 -31.48% 
• Used Car Imports total January (2023) 3,786 v (2022) 4,041 -6.3% 
• Used Car Imports total January (2023) 3,786 v (2019) 9,003 -57.9% 
• New Electric Vehicles sales total year to date (2023) 3,682 v (2022) 2,697 +36.5% 
• New Electric Vehicles sales total year to date (2023) 3,682 v (2019) 799 +360.83% 
• 10 Top Selling Car Brands 2023 were: 1. TOYOTA, 2. HYUNDAI, 3. VOLKSWAGEN, 4. SKODA, 5. KIA, 6. FORD, 7. DACIA, 8. PEUGEOT, 9. AUDI, 10. BMW  
• 10 Top car model’s year 2023 were: 1. HYUNDAI TUCSON, 2. TOYOTA YARIS CROSS, 3. TOYOTA YARIS, 4. TOYOTAC-HR, 5. TOYOTA COROLLA, 6. DACIA SANDERO, 7. KIA SPORTAGE, 8. HYUNDAI KONA, 9. VOLKSWAGEN T-ROC, 10. HYUNDAI IONIQ 
• 10 Top Selling Electric Vehicles (EVs) 2023: 1. HYUNDAI IONIQ 5, 2. HYUNDAI KONA, 3. VOLKSWAGEN ID.4, 4. KIA EV6, 5.BMW I4, 6. KIA NIRO, 7. NISSAN LEAF, 8. SKODA ENYAQ,  9. RENAULT MEGANE, 10. TOYOTA BZ4X 
• Top Selling Car (January) 2023: HYUNDAI TUCSON 
• Top Selling Electric Car (January) 2023: HYUNDAI IONIQ 5 
• 3 Top Selling Car Colours 2023: 1.Grey 2.Black 3.Blue 
• Top New Car Body Type 2023: Hatchback 
• 2023 % Share of Cars by Transmission Type: Automatic 58.11%, Manual 41.81%, CTB / Linear Gear 0.01% 
• Tables below shows total new car registrations by county for January 2023 and total new Electric car registrations by county for January 2023. 

New Car Registrations by County 2023 (January)

County

2023 Units

2022 Units

% Change

2023 % Share

2022 % Share

Carlow

320

342

-6.43

1.17

1.37

Cavan

334

302

10.6

1.22

1.21

Clare

607

546

11.17

2.22

2.18

Cork

3397

3366

0.92

12.41

13.46

Donegal

658

618

6.47

2.4

2.47

Dublin

10318

8581

20.24

37.71

34.3

Galway

1186

1200

-1.17

4.33

4.8

Kerry

624

558

11.83

2.28

2.23

Kildare

1238

1202

3

4.52

4.81

Kilkenny

537

533

0.75

1.96

2.13

Laois

342

322

6.21

1.25

1.29

Leitrim

102

102

0

0.37

0.41

Limerick

980

890

10.11

3.58

3.56

Longford

131

149

-12.08

0.48

0.6

Louth

667

647

3.09

2.44

2.59

Mayo

522

491

6.31

1.91

1.96

Meath

985

965

2.07

3.6

3.86

Monaghan

248

228

8.77

0.91

0.91

Offaly

346

328

5.49

1.26

1.31

Roscommon

282

253

11.46

1.03

1.01

Sligo

274

275

-0.36

1

1.1

Tipperary

775

737

5.16

2.83

2.95

Waterford

704

659

6.83

2.57

2.63

Westmeath

429

405

5.93

1.57

1.62

Wexford

732

686

6.71

2.68

2.74

Wicklow

626

629

-0.48

2.29

2.51

New Electric Vehicle Registrations by County 2023 (January)

County

2023 Units

2022 Units

% Change

2023 % Share

2022 % Share

Carlow

31

28

10.71

0.84

1.04

Cavan

27

14

92.86

0.73

0.52

Clare

60

28

114.29

1.63

1.04

Cork

419

273

53.48

11.38

10.12

Donegal

59

37

59.46

1.6

1.37

Dublin

1619

1184

36.74

43.97

43.9

Galway

149

123

21.14

4.05

4.56

Kerry

68

49

38.78

1.85

1.82

Kildare

197

170

15.88

5.35

6.3

Kilkenny

49

42

16.67

1.33

1.56

Laois

40

28

42.86

1.09

1.04

Leitrim

8

4

100

0.22

0.15

Limerick

115

67

71.64

3.12

2.48

Longford

8

4

100

0.22

0.15

Louth

83

43

93.02

2.25

1.59

Mayo

45

42

7.14

1.22

1.56

Meath

170

125

36

4.62

4.63

Monaghan

13

15

-13.33

0.35

0.56

Offaly

33

21

57.14

0.9

0.78

Roscommon

23

12

91.67

0.62

0.44

Sligo

28

40

-30

0.76

1.48

Tipperary

76

69

10.14

2.06

2.56

Waterford

75

58

29.31

2.04

2.15

Westmeath

52

45

15.56

1.41

1.67

Wexford

93

71

30.99

2.53

2.63

Wicklow

142

105

35.24

3.86

3.89