Electric cars are on the rise in Ireland this year with 9,303 new electric cars having been registered compared to 6,235 last year.
That represents a 49 per cent increase on the same period in 2022, while last month 3,421 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 1,924 in March 2022.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry, which recently released its official 231 new vehicle registrations statistics for March, says car registrations for the past month were up 37 per cent (17,676 ) when compared to March 2022 (12,907 ). Registrations for the year to date are up 16.5 per cent (58,116 ) on the same period last year (49,905 ).
Electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hybrids continue to increase their market share, with a combined 24 per cent share. Petrol continues to remain dominant at 32.6 per cent, with diesel accounting for 22.8 per cent, hybrid 20.6 per cent, electric 16 per cent and plug-in electric hybrids at 8 per cent.
Light Commercial vehicles (LCV ) registrations are up an impressive 71.4 per cent (3,453 ) compared to March last year (2,015 ) and for the year to date are up 24 per cent (11,587 ).
HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle ) registrations are also showing an increase of 26.4 per cent (273 ) in comparison to March 2022 (216 ). For the year to date HGV’s are up 42.6 per cent (964 ).
Imported Used Cars have seen a 23.9 per cent (4,699 ) increase in March this year, compared to March 2022 (3,793 ). However, just looking at the year to date for imports, they are up seven per cent (12,474 ) on 2022 (11,639 ).
The top sellers in the first quarter of 2023
Top selling car brands: 1. Toyota; 2. VW; 3. Hyundai; 4. Skoda; 5. Kia.
Top car models: 1. Hyundai Tuscon; 2. Kia Sportage; 3. Toyota Yaris Cross; 4. Toyota C-HR; 5. Toyota Corolla.
Top 5 selling EV brands: 1. VW; 2. Hyundai; 3. Kia; 4. Tesla; 5. BMW.
Top 5 selling EV models: 1.VW ID.4; 2. Hyundai Ioniq 5; 3. Tesla Model Y; 4. Skoda Enyaq; 5. Hyundai Kona.
Top selling car (March ): Nissan Qashqai.
Top selling EV (March ): Volkswagen ID.4.
