Electric car sales charge ahead as sales double in first three months of year

More than 10,000 electric vehicles were registered in the first quarter of the year, almost double the amount for the same period in 2021.

Electric and hybrid cars now make up almost half the new car market.

Overall, new car registrations for March (12,935) were up 40.7% when compared to March 2021 (9,192).

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And registrations in the year to date (49,928) are up 4% on the same period last year (48,030).

And registrations in the year to date (49,928) are up 4% on the same period last year (48,030).

For the month of March, 1,930 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 1,034 in March 2021. So far this year, 6,244 new electric cars have been registered, in comparison to 2,816 in the same period in 2021.

Electric vehicle and plug-in hybrids and hybrids continue to increase their slice of the market share, with a combined share now of 44.63%. Despite a large decrease in market share for fossil fuel cars, petrol remains the most common energy source for new cars at 27.4%, with diesel accounting for 25.83%, hybrid 24.56%, electric 12.51% and plug-in electric hybrid 7.56% . x

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The best-selling car brands so far in 2022 are Toyota (Japan), Hyundai (South Korea) and Kia (South Korea), followed by Skoda (Czech Republic) and Volkswagen (Germany). Photo: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

Asian car companies continue to dominate the market. The best-selling car brands so far in 2022 are Toyota (Japan), Hyundai (South Korea) and Kia (South Korea), followed by Skoda (Czech Republic) and Volkswagen (Germany).

Toyota has four of the top five bestselling cars on the market.

The biggest sellers so far this year are the Hyundai Tucson followed by the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota C-HR, the Toyota Rav and the Toyota Yaris.

For electric vehicles ,the big sellers are the Hyundai Ioniq followed by the Volkswagen ID.4, the Kia EV6, the Nissan Leaf and the Tesla Model 3.

Used car imports for March (3,793) have seen a decrease of 35.1% on the same month in 2021 (5,840).

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The biggest sellers so far this year are the Hyundai Tucson followed by the Toyota Corolla, the Toyota C-HR, the Toyota Rav and the Toyota Yaris. (Picture: Getty)

Commenting on the new vehicle registrations, Brian Cooke, director general of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry – which released the figures – said that while new car sales are up almost 41% on March 2021 and 4% in the year to date, they still remain 22% behind that of pre-Covid (2019) levels.

‘There is strong demand for new and used cars among consumers, although supply continues to remain a major challenge for the industry, while the hire drive market continues to be well below pre-pandemic levels,’ he said.