There was a steep drop in the number of new diesel cars registered in the first nine months of the year as electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles continued to grow their market share, the latest data from the Central Statistics Office shows.

The number of new cars licensed in September rose by 961 (15 per cent) vehicles compared with the same month last year.

In the first nine months of 2022, 22 per cent of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles compared with 15 per cent in the same period in 2021.

There was a fall of 13 per cent in the number of used private cars licensed in September 2022 compared with September 2021.

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In the first nine months of 2022, 27 per cent of new private cars licensed were diesel, compared with 34 per cent in the same period in 2021.

The number of used cars licensed in the first nine months of 2022 decreased by 35 per cent compared with the same period in 2021 (36,140 versus 55,827).

There were 12,763 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed over the nine months to September, compared with 31,304 in the same period in 2021, a fall of 59 per cent.

Volkswagen (1,244) was the most popular make of new private cars licensed in September 2022.

Nele van der Wielen, a statistician in the transport section of the CSO, said the figures show the continued growth in the number of electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles licensed in Ireland.

“The number of new electric cars licensed has increased by 81 per cent from 7,470 in the first nine months of 2021 to 13,506 in 2022,” she said.

“At the same time, the number of new diesel cars is decreasing. For the first nine months of 2022, 25,113 new cars licensed were diesel cars compared with 32,341 in the same period in 2021.

“Data also shows that Volkswagen (1,244) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in September, followed by Kia (573), Hyundai (526), Skoda (504), and Tesla (502).

“Together these five makes represent almost half (46 per cent) of all new private cars licensed in September 2022.”