Analysis: What do the 121,850 new vehicles registered in 2023 tell us about the buying habits of Irish motorists?
The final vehicle sales numbers are in for 2023 and have been published by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry so what do they tell us about the Irish car market?
Sales were up 15.6% in 2023 compared to 2022
A total of 121,850 new passenger vehicles (cars to SUVs to minivans) were registered in the Republic for 2023, up on the 2022 figures of 105,398. Conventional petrol and diesel vehicles dominate with a combined 63,640, or 52.2%. New petrol and diesel hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) come to a combined 25,039, or 20.5%.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, motoring journalist Michael Sheridan and Prof. Brian Caulfield from TCD discuss the decline in popularity of the small car
SUVs account for 60% of new vehicle sales
As has been the case for several years and for 2023 as well, small, medium and large SUVs are the most popular vehicles with 60% of all new sales. No matter what we might think, they're going nowhere.
We're buying a lot of Toyotas - and Volkswagen EVs
The top five leading brands in 2023 were Toyota with sales of 16,532, Volkswagen with sales of 13,368, Hyundai with sales of 11,792, Skoda with sales of 10,180, and Kia with sales of 9,146. These are the same five leading brands as in 2022, which had a slightly changed order of Toyota, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia and Skoda. The Hyundai Tucson was the leading model following by the Kia Sportage, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Yaris Cross and Volkswagen ID.4.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime, Aoife O'Grady from Zero Emission Vehicles Ireland on how electric car sales have surpassed diesel car sales for the first time
The five leading brands for EVs in 2023 were Volkswagen, Tesla, Hyundai, Kia and Chinese new comer MG. In 2022, the five leading brands were Volkswagen, Hyundai, Kia, Tesla and Nissan. The five leading models in 2023 were the Volkswagen ID.4, Tesla Model Y, Skoda Enyaq, Hyundai Ioniq 5, and the MG MG4. Chinese brand BYD is expected to be competitive in 2024.
Electric cars are growing in popularity
Another way of looking at the vehicles is whether they are fuelled with petrol or diesel or plugged-in for electric charging. The total number of new and used imported vehicles with petrol engines, consisting of conventional petrol, petrol HEV and petrol PHEV, is 103,824. The total number with diesel engines, consisting of conventional diesel, diesel HEV and diesel PHEV, is 79,857. The total number which can be plugged in is 40,747, and consists of BEVs and diesel and petrol PHEVs.
These are shown in the above diagram. The overlapping areas are the PHEVs which can be fuelled with diesel or petrol and also plugged in. Petrol and diesel PHEVs were 14,329 and 602, respectively. The other category in the diagram represents the eight (8) gas engine vehicles sold in Ireland in 2023.
We're still buying diesel vehicles
Let's look at the numbers for all 2023 registrations of new and used imported light vehicles in the Republic, which includes the new sales discussed above plus the used imported passenger vehicles and new and used imported commercial vehicles (typically vans and pickup trucks). Most used imported vehicles are second-hand vehicles from the UK. Used imported passenger vehicles totalled 50,716 in 2023. New light commercial vehicles totalled 29,403, of which 94.5% were diesel. Used imported light commercial vehicles totalled 7,536, of which 97.6% were diesel.
In 2023, 209,505 new and used imported light passenger and light commercial vehicles were registered. Conventional petrol and diesel dominated with a combined 136,930, or 65.4%, with diesel alone being 76,779, or 36.6%. Hybrids were second with 31,828, or 15.2 %. Battery electric vehicles were 25,816, or 12.3% of the total. Plug-in hybrid electric petrol and diesel vehicles were 14,931, or 7.1%.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
