January new car registrations up 9.4% – record month for EV sales

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) this week released their official 231 new vehicle registrations statistics for January. New car registrations for the month of January were up 9.4% (27,364) when compared to January 2022 (25,014).

Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) are up 10.1% (5,559) compared to January last year (5,051). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also showing an increase of 52.5% (424) in comparison to January 2022 (278).

Imported Used Cars seen a 6.3% (3,786) decrease in January 2023, when compared to January 2022 (4,041). 

New electric car registrations reached their highest month on record with 3,682 registered in January 2023 (+36.5%), compared to 2,697 January 2022 and now account for 13.5% of the marketplace 

Automatic transmissions have risen in popularity, with a 58.11% of market share, while manual transmissions now account for 41.81%. The hatchback is Ireland’s top selling car body type of 2023. 

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General commented: “New car registrations for the month of January are 9.4% ahead of last year. While this is an important step in the right direction for the Industry, both in terms of new cars and the additional trade-ins generated to supply the used car market, sales still remain 15% behind Pre-Covid January 2019.

“Sales of commercial vehicles both Light (LCV) and Heavy (HGVs), are also showing an increase on last year. Even more positively the sale of new Electric Vehicles (EVs) have shown a promising start to the year with 3,682 registrations, a record monthly total. With supply chains improving, we anticipate continuing growth in the EV market, although this will not only be down to vehicle supply but also to the level of Government supports. 

“We are still in the early stages of the EV project and the recent announcement of increased funding by the State for the national charging infrastructure will help allay range anxiety concerns and encourage more motorists to look at an EV.

“However, this increased investment must not be at the expense of purchase supports, which are essential in encouraging the behavioural change required to convince more consumers to go electric. The extension of grants, reduced tolling charges and VRT reliefs, as well as halting the reduction in the EV Benefit-In-Kind reliefs, should be on the agenda.

“We recognise that supports cannot remain in place indefinitely, however any early erosion or reduction in supports could risk EV supply levels and also reduce sales growth at a key time in the evolution of market, which would also delay the creation of an active used EV market.”