The car sales market for 2023 remains buoyant, with sales for April 2023 up 20% compared to April 2022. According to figures from The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) – 7,205 new cars were registered in April 2023, compared to 6,002 in April 2022. Year-to-date, 65,282 new cars have been registered, which is a 16.8% increase in the same period in 2022. This is partly down to a very strong March (+36.6%) and April (+20%), which can be accounted for by waiting times for deliveries of some electric vehicles.
The growth of the electric vehicles market continues apace. Sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) rose by just under 50% YTD in 2023 compared to 2022. A total of 10,778 electric vehicles were registered so far in 2023, and this is the first individual month where electric vehicles outsold diesel.
The top-selling car in the country in April was the Dacia Sandero, with 367 units registered. The top-selling car YTD remains the Hyundai Tucson, ahead of the Kia Sportage and Toyota Corolla.
Volkswagen is the brand selling the most EVs in Ireland, and the firm’s ID.4 is the country’s top-selling EV in 2023. A sign of the times is the ‘shift’ away from manual transmission. So far in 2023, only 38.68% of new cars have come with a manual transmission; the rest and the majority now come with an automatic.
