Registrations of used imported cars up 27% as electric cars continue decline
This Year Down So Are Far Electric Car 25% Registrations
The number of used imported cars licensed for the first time in Ireland has increased by 27% so far this year as the drop-off in demand for electric cars continues to squeeze the market, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Between January and October this year, 113,615 new private cars were registered for the first time — a slight drop from the 114,069 recorded during the same period last year. There were just shy of 4,000 new private cars licensed during October.
However, there has been a much steeper falloff in the electric car market. So far this year, there has been a 25% drop in new electric cars licensed to 16,211. During October, there were 751 new electric cars licensed.
Statistician with the CSO Damien Lenihan said as registrations of electric cars fell, growth was recoirded in the licensing of petrol and electric hybrid cars.
“The number of new petrol and electric hybrid cars licensed increased by 32% from 17,680 in the first 10 months of 2023 to 23,408 over the same period in 2024,” he said.
“In the first 10 months of 2024, 35,737 new cars licensed were petrol compared with 37,714 in the same period of 2023, a fall of 5%. Comparing the same ten-month period in 2023 and 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed rose by 4%,” he said.
While electric cars are seeing a decline in popularity, more and more people are looking abroad for their car purchases. In the year to the end of October, 53,008 imported used cars were licensed for the first time — a 27% increase year-on-year.
According to the CSO data, Toyota was the most popular brand in October with 550 licensed, followed by Volkswagen at 521. The most popular brand of new electric car licensed last month was the Volkswagen ID.4 with 57 registrations, followed by the Nissan Leaf with 53.