The number of new cars licensed in July 2022 fell by 5,154 (-25%) vehicles compared with July 2021, according to CSO data.

In the first seven months of 2022, a total of 21% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) compared with 14% in the same period in 2021.

The number of used private cars licensed in July 2022 fell by more than a quarter (-26%) compared with July 2021. 

The number of used cars licensed in the first seven months of 2022 decreased by 40% compared with the same period in 2021 (27,372 versus 45,552).

Licensed

In the first seven months of 2022, a total of 27% of new private cars licensed were diesel, compared with 35% in the same period in 2021.

Toyota (2,592) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in July 2022.

Statistician Nele van der Wielen, said: “The number of new electric cars licensed has increased by 79% from 5,649 in the first seven months of 2021 to 10,105 in 2022.

“At the same time the number of new diesel cars is decreasing. For the first seven months of 2022, 20,931 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 27,754 in the same period in 2021.

The second most popular make of car is Volkswagen (2,084), followed by Hyundai (1,831), Kia (1,098), and Skoda (1,080). 

Together, these five makes represent almost three-fifths (58%) of all new private cars licensed in July 2022.