Number of new private cars taxed for first time up 18% on last year

The number of new private cars taxed for the first time this year is up 18 per cent on the same period last year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.

In October, 4,056 new private cars were licensed for the first time, which is an increase of 2.9 per cent compared with October 2015.

A total of 6,753 used (imported) private cars were licensed, representing a rise of 67.4 per cent on the same month last year.

In the first 10 months of 2016, 140,100 new private cars were licensed, a rise of 18.3 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The number of used (imported) private cars licensed increased by 38.1 per cent compared with the same period in 2015.

The licensing figures also show that Volkswagen (at a quantity of 533) was the most popular make of new private car in October, followed by Ford (320), Nissan (291), Opel (290) and Renault (262). Together these five makes represent 41.8 per cent of all new private cars licensed.

Emissions bands

In the first 10 months of 2016, seven out of every 10 new private cars licensed were diesel, while 96.2 per cent of new private cars licensed in the same period were in the A/B CO2 emissions bands.

The total number of new vehicles licensed during October 2016 was 6,614 compared with 6,160 during the same month in 2015, an increase of 7.4 per cent.

There was a 19.9 per cent increase in the number of new goods vehicles licensed in October 2016, compared with the same period last year, bringing the total to 1,953.

The CSO data differs from new car registration data, which relates to when a vehicle gets a licence number. The CSO data is based on when a valid motor tax disc is issued for the first time for a vehicle. In some instances there can be a time lag between the two events.