New car sales dropped slightly in Carlow last month as switch to electric grows

Sales of new vehicles in Carlow are almost the same so far this year as they were in 2022, just one below last year's figure. 

A total of 469 new vehicles were registered in Carlow in February, just one below the figure of 470 for the same period last year.

Electric car registrations in the county rose to 62, up from 45 for the same period in 2022. This represented an increase of 37.78pc. 

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI)  released their official 231 new vehicle registrations statistics for February. 
New car registrations for the month of February were up 9.9% (13,161) when compared to February 2022 (11,971). Registrations year to date are up 9.4% (40,476) on the same period last year (36,985).

Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) are up 12.8% (2,585) compared to February last year (2,291) and year to date are up 11.0% (8,152). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also showing an increase of 45.9% (267) in comparison to February 2022 (183). Year to date HGV's are up 49.9% (691).

Imported Used Cars saw a 4.9% (3,990) increase in February 2023, when compared to February 2022 (3,805). Year to date imports are marginally down 0.9% (7,776) on 2022 (7,846).

For the month of February 2,219 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 1,614 in February 2022 (+37.5%). So far this year 5,893 new electric cars have been registered in comparison to 4,311 on the same period 2022. 

Electric Vehicle and Plug-in Hybrids and Hybrids continue to increase their market share, with a combined market share now of 41%. Internal combustion engine type vehicles remain dominant with petrol accounting for 32.48%, Diesel 23.32%, Hybrid 19.16%, Electric 14.56% and Plug-in Electric Hybrid 7.59%.

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General commenting: "February new car registrations have continued on a similar pattern to January, with a 9.9% increase compared to the same month last year, but still lagging 13% behind pre-Covid February 2019. Sales of commercial vehicles both Light (LCV) and Heavy (HGVs), have shown a strong increase on last year. Electric Vehicles (EVs) continue to outperform the market. Increased supply, strong Government supports and the State’s commitment to investing in charging infrastructure, are all essential elements in encouraging the transition to electric.

"Drilling into the EV sales patterns, it is important to highlight private customers, who still benefit from the SEAI Grant, account for 75% of EV sales so far this year, with these sales increasing by over 40% when compared to last year.

"On the other hand, sales of new EVs to companies, which don’t benefit from the grant support, and which now attract a higher level of BIK since January, are slightly down on last year. This underlines the importance of the grant and it is vital that we that we don’t interrupt consumer momentum by continuing this support at current levels beyond June”.