New car sales are up 18.3 per cent on the same period last year, with two new Lamborghinis among the new cars to land here so far this year.
August registrations were down slightly on last year, at 8,131 compared with 8,154, but so far this year 112,729 new passenger cars have been registered, up from 95,269 by the end of August 2022.
All-electric cars account for 18 per cent of new car sales, with 20,218 new EV cars registered up to the end of August. EV sales are up 60 per cent on last year.
A further 8.3 per cent of sales are for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), while regular hybrids account for 19 per cent.
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Regular petrol engines remain the most popular choice, making up 31 per cent of sales, followed by diesel engines at 22.3 per cent.
The Volkswagen ID.4 is the best-selling EV on the Irish market, with 2,756 registrations, followed by Tesla’s Model Y with 1,715, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 with 1,226 and Skoda’s Enyaq with 1,152.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (Simi) is calling for an extension of the current incentives for EV buyers and for greater investment in charging infrastructure.
Brian Cooke, Simi director general said: “This year’s new car market has two notable features: the return to pre-pandemic sales levels and the ever-increasing share of electric vehicles. EVs registered for the first eight months of the year have broken the 20,000 barrier. This should only be viewed as a start. We have yet to return to new car sales levels that will reduce the age of the national fleet. We need to see an even greater level of EV sales, both new and used, if we want to get close to the Government’s climate action ambitions.”
He said that while Ireland can’t control the international political and economic situation, “we can control our own local taxation and incentive regime. If we get this right, we can create a platform to give consumers and businesses more options to make better environmental choices”.
He called on the upcoming budget to extend current EV incentives and not to increase VRT. “For consumers this means continuation of the SEAI grants and VRT relief on EVs, while for businesses an extension of the benefit-in-kind reliefs for three more years. In addition, there should be increased funding to support the national charging infrastructure. By doing this, we will see an increase in both the new car market and in EV sales, with the potential to create an active used EV market over the next couple of years.”
Toyota remains the overall best-selling new car brand with 15,609 registrations, ahead of Volkswagen with 12,527, Hyundai with 11,426, and Skoda on 9,559. The Hyundai Tucson is the best-selling new car on the market with 5,141 sales, ahead of the Kia Sportage with 3,371 and Toyota Corolla with 2,973.
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At the premium end of the market, Audi has the lead, with 4,867 registrations, ahead of BMW with 4,214 and Mercedes-Benz with 2,669. Two new Lamborghinis, two Bentleys and a Ferrari have also been registered in the Republic this year. It brings to eight the number of Irish-registered Lamborghinis, according to figures from the Irish Bulletin of Vehicle and Driver Statistics. The starting price for a Lamborghini is more than €200,000, before tax.
Nearly 13 per cent of registrations are accounted for within the motor trade itself in what is called pre-registrations. Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai, Skoda and Renault all preregistered more than 1,000 cars each so far this year.
The car rental market has made some recovery from its slump during the Covid pandemic, making up 8 per cent of the market, though still shy of the 16 per cent share it used to represent pre-Covid. This is partly down to the ongoing new car supply issues of the past few years, caused by a global shortage of microchips.
Car distributors are prioritising private customer orders ahead of supplying the heavily discounted rental market. Just 106 EVs have been registered to the hire drive market.
In the commercial vehicle market – a bellwether for economic activity – new registrations of light commercials (vans) are up 32 per cent to 25,207. Ford and Renault are the two biggest-selling brands, ahead of VW and Toyota. Sales of all-electric van have more than doubled this year, with 759 sales so far, compared with 333 this time last year.
In the new truck market, sales are also up 30 per cent to 2,502, with Scania leading the way on 635 registrations, ahead of Volvo on 509 and DAF on 371.
