Budget 2023: SIMI calls for extension of Electric Vehicle supports

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI), have released the official 222 new vehicle registration figures for August and are calling on the Government to extend EV supports in the forthcoming Budget.

New car registrations for August were up 36.7% (8,157) when compared to August 2021 (5,966). Registrations year to date are down 1.2% (95,183) on the same period last year (96,296) and are 14% behind (110,527) that of pre-Covid levels.

Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) are down 28.3% (2,134) compared to August last year (2,978) and year to date are down 22.3% (19,228). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are up 32.4% (249) in comparison to August 2021 (188). Year to date HGV’s are down 5.5% (1,924).

Used car imports for August (4,769) have seen a decrease of 6.3% on August 2021 (5,089). Year to date imports are down 28.4% (33,084) on 2021 (46,186).

For the month of August 1,493 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 824 in August 2021. So far this year 12,665 new electric cars have been registered in comparison to 7,049 on the same period 2021 an increase of 80%. 
 
Electric Vehicle, Plug-in Hybrids and Hybrids continue to increase their market share, with a combined market share now of 40.41%. Petrol continues to remain dominant with 30.09%, Diesel accounts for 27.2%, Hybrid 20.32%, Electric 13.31% and Plug-in Electric Hybrid 6.78%.

Commenting on the new vehicle registrations Brian Cooke, Director General SIMI said: “While new car sales showed some improvement during the month of August, year to date sales are still marginally behind last year and 14% behind pre-Covid 2019 levels, with supply chain issues still hampering both the new and used car markets.

“The sale of new electric vehicles continues to be the one positive feature of the overall market, with year on year growth of 80%. However, it needs to be underlined that we are still in the very early stages of the electric vehicle project, and we have a long way to go to meet the challenging targets in the Government’s Climate Action Plan.

“In this context it is essential that Government supports both consumers and businesses by extending EV incentives at current levels in the forthcoming Budget. By doing this we can help secure a greater supply of EVs for the Irish market, increase new EV sales in the short term and create an active used EV market, which will make an electric vehicle affordable to a wider constituency of motorists.

“In addition, if we want to speed up the removal of the oldest highest emitting vehicles from the national fleet, Government should refrain from any further taxation increases. This would encourage activity in both the new and used car markets, allowing motorists to trade up to a cleaner new or newer more fuel-efficient car.”