The market for new cars in Ireland rose significantly last year, with 121,850 new car sales. To be more precise, 121,850 new car registrations - registrations are not necessarily always sales to paying customers. Still, it represents a 16 per cent increase in new car registrations compared to 2022 and a four per cent rise compared to 2019, the last pre-Covid year. Those figures come from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).
Underlying economy
Light Commercial Vehicles, or vans, also saw a significant rise in 2023, with sales increasing by 25 per cent to 29,403, which is generally seen as a sign of a healthy underlying economy. Imports also rose, which might be more of a surprise, climbing by nine per cent to 50,716. That figure very likely reflects a continuing shortage of stock in the used car market.
A total of 22,789 new electric cars were registered in 2023, an increase on the 15,678 registrations seen in 2022 (+45.4 per cent) and 3,444 in 2019 (+561.7 per cent). That does mean, however, that while electric car sales are still increasing, they are doing so at a slower rate than in previous years.
In terms of the types of cars we were buying in 2023, petrol power accounted for 30.07 per cent, diesel 22.16 per cent, electric 18.70 per cent, hybrid 18.54 per cent and Plug-In Hybrid 8.28 per cent. Petrol continues to remain the most popular engine type for 2023, but the combined 'electrified' market (lumping electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid together) accounted for 45.5 per cent of all registrations.
Automatics on top
Automatic transmissions now account for (64.54 per cent) of the market share, while manual transmissions have declined (35.35 per cent). Surprisingly, the hatchback remains Ireland's top-selling car body type for 2023, while grey retains the top-selling colour title for the eighth year running.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, said: "2023 was a year of progress for the Irish Motor Industry, both in terms of new vehicle registrations and electric vehicle sales. New car registrations finished at 121,850 units, up 16 per cent on last year and four per cent ahead of pre-Covid 2019. The growth in electric vehicle sales continued into 2023, with an increase in market share from 15 per cent in 2022 to nearly 19 per cent in 2023.This represented a 45 per cent increase in EV sales for the year. We do expect to see some growth in EV sales again in 2024, but key to this will be the ongoing Government support, both in terms of vehicle and taxation incentives and investment in a fit for purpose charging infrastructure. The mix in the new car market however, from electric to hybrid to more traditional engine types, highlights the diverse nature of Irish motorists' driving requirements, and reducing the age of the national fleet, as well as moving to zero emission vehicles, will be vital if we want to get close to Ireland's climate goals. The commercial vehicle sector both light and heavy vehicles also delivered a solid performance in 2023. Light commercial vehicles finished 25 per cent ahead of last year and heavy goods vehicles saw a 20 per cent increase on 2022."
Toyota is the best-selling brand
Toyota finished the year on top of the car brands charts, followed by Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda, and Kia. The Hyundai Tucson was, once again, Ireland's best-selling car but a storming performance by its cousin, the Kia Sportage, saw a Korean 1-2 at the top of the charts. Those two were followed by the Toyota Corolla, Toyota Yaris Cross,, and the Volkswagen ID.4.
Unsurprisingly, that makes the ID.4 the best-selling electric car overall, followed by the Tesla Model Y, Skoda Enyaq, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and the MG 4. Volkswagen was also the best-selling electric car brand, followed by Tesla, Hyundai, Kia, and MG.