Upswing in electric cars on Longford roads, new figures show

Although the overall number of cars sold in Longford experienced a slight dip from 517 in 2021 to 514 in 2022 the E car sales jumped from 25 to 46 in the same time period. Longford's figures are very much in line with national trends.

In 2022 the number of new car registrations hit 105,253 compared to 104,932 in 2021 and 117,109 in 2019.

On the EV side of things there were 15,678 new electric cars registered in 2022, an increase on the 8,646 registrations seen in 2021 and 3,444 in 2019.9.

New light commercial vehicle (LCV) registrations in 2022 saw a decrease of 17.7% (23,653) compared to 2021 (28,742) and -6.6% 2019 (25,336), while new heavy commercial vehicle registrations (HGV) saw a decrease of 8.1% (2,494) in comparison to 2021 (2,715) and -6.2% on 2019 (2,659).

Imported Used Cars saw 46,490 registrations in 2022, a decrease of 26.9% on 2021 (63,617) and a decrease of 59.2% on 2019 (113,926).

A total of 15,678 new electric cars were registered in 2022, an increase on the 8,646 registrations seen in 2021 and 3,444 in 2019.

The stats reflect a changing marketplace in 2022. Petrol accounted for 30.16%, Diesel 26.77%, Hybrid 19.29%, Electric 14.90%, and Plug-In Hybrid 6.76%. Petrol remains the most popular engine type for 2022, despite a decline in its market share last year (32.16%) while hybrid, electric and plug-in hybrid continued to gain market share in 2022 and now account for 41% of the market.

Automatic transmissions have taken over in popularity, now accounting for (56.99%) of market share, while manual transmissions have declined (42.95%).

The hatchback continues to remain Ireland’s top selling car body type of 2022. While grey is the top selling colour and has continued to keep that title now for the past seven years.

Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, spoke of challenges in the market: “Total new car registrations for 2022 were marginally ahead of 2021 but remain 10% behind that of 2019 (pre-Covid levels).

“Despite the re-opening of the economy and strong economic growth, 2022 was another challenging year for the Irish Motor Industry, with new car sales as well as commercial vehicles being impacted by supply constraints,” Mr Cooke said.

The SIMI Director General spoke of the importance of early sales in the coming year: “On a more positive note, the electric car segment continues to grow strongly with 15,678 new electric cars registered in 2022, an increase of 81% on 2021.

“Looking forward to the new 231 registration period, retailers are reporting strong new car orders, which will also attract vital trade-ins for the used car market.

“Like the last two years, we again are expecting further growth in electric vehicles sales this year, however the extent of this growth will be determined not only by supply but also Government support in the EV project, both in terms of extending the current EV grant support and supporting investment in the national charging infrastructure,” he said.

Mr Cooke concluded with a call for support of the industry: “The combination of Government support and Industry investment is essential if we want to create an active used EV market in as short a timeframe as possible.

“We have a huge challenge in reaching emission reduction targets over the next decade and this can only be achieved with the right economic and taxation environment that supports the sale of new low and zero emissions vehicles.”