New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the Covid-19 pandemic is still having an impact on car sales in Ireland.
Despite showing a significant recovery from the immediate impact of initial lockdowns in May of last year, the number of vehicles licensed last month remains lower than pre-Covid figures for May 2019.
The number of new cars licensed in May this year rose by 5,847 to 7,337 vehicles compared with May 2020, but that still represents a 20% decrease on the numbers of new cars licensed in May 2019, the CSO said. Just 1,490 vehicles were registered in May of last year.
Meanwhile, the number of used (imported) private cars licensed rose from 1,170 in May 2020 to 6,426 in May 2021.
But the CSO said the number of used (imported) private cars licensed is still 2,636 vehicles lower in May 2021 than in May 2019.
During the first five months of 2021, a total of 54,843 new private cars were licensed, an increase of 16.7% compared with the same time last year.
The number of used (imported) private cars licensed increased by 49.1% compared with the same period in 2020, the CSO added.
Today's figures also show the increasing popularity of new electric and hybrid cars.
32% of all new cars licensed in the first five months of 2021 were electric and hybrid cars, compared with 19% of new cars licensed in the first five months of 2020.
The CSO said that Volkswagen was the most popular make of new private car licensed in May followed by Toyota, Skoda, Hyundai and Ford.
Together these five makes represent 48.3% of all new private cars licensed last month.
The CSO also said that in the first five months of this year, 36.5% of all new private cars licensed were diesel, compared with 43.8% in the same time for 2020.
A vehicle is registered when the vehicle registration tax due on the vehicle is paid to the Revenue Commissioners. Revenue then issue a registration number for the vehicle.
