New vehicle registrations for June were down 22 per cent (2,154 ) when compared to the same month in 2021 (2,762 ), according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry's official 221 new vehicle registration figures. Supply constraints are still a big issue with new cars, but this is expected to ease over the next six months.
However, registrations year to date remain up, now at 2.1 per cent (65,176 ) compared to the same period last year (63,853 ), but are 19.3 per cent behind (80,758 ) that of pre-Covid levels.
Last month 187 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 390 in June 2021. So far this year, 8,444 new electric cars have been registered in comparison to 4,330 on the same period last year.
Electric vehicle, plug-in hybrids and hybrids continue to increase their market share with a combined market share now of 42.49 per cent.
Petrol continues to remain dominant at 28.22 per cent, diesel accounts for 26.87 per cent, hybrid 22.5 per cent, electric 12.96 per cent, and plug-in electric hybrid 7.03 per cent.
Used car imports for June (4,346 ) have seen a decrease of 22.8 per cent on June last year (5,629 ). For the year to date, imports are well down, 32.6 per cent (24,112 ) compared to in 2021 (35,753 ).
The Hyundai Tucson was the top selling car last month, and also leads sales here in Ireland year to date.
The best selling car brand year to date is Toyota, with its Corolla, C-HR, RAV 4, and Yaris making up the rest of the top five selling cars here so far in 2022.
The Volkswagen’s ID.4 is the best selling electric car in Ireland so far this year, with the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Nissan Leaf, and Tesla Model 3 following.
Meanwhile, light commercial vehicles/van sales are down 36 per cent (632 ) compared to June last year (988 ), and for the year to date, they remain down by 23.3 per cent (13,062 ). Supply is also an issue in this sector.
Heavy goods vehicle/truck registrations are up 8.82 per cent (111 ) in comparison to June last year (102 ). However, for the year to date HGVs are down 11 per cent (1,359 ).
Brian Cooke, director general at SIMI, said although new car sales for June are down on last year, the new 222 registration period, which begun on July 1, “will help boost sales and attract vital trade-ins for the used car market”.
“While the supply issues will start to unwind in the short term, we now have the spectre of inflation and global political uncertainty.
“These have the potential to dampen new car demand at this critical juncture in reducing transport emissions. In this environment it is vital that Government continues to incentivise electric vehicles by extending current supports, and also refrain from any further taxation increases which will only suppress demand hampering our ability to decarbonise the national fleet.”
