New car registrations in Limerick see increase
NEW CAR registrations in Limerick are up 10% in 2023.
In 2022, there were 1,458 cars registered in the county compared to 1,319 in 2022. Meanwhile, electric car sales went from 110 in 2022 to 172 in 2023.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) released their official new vehicle registrations statistics for February. Registrations this year to date are up 9.4% (40,476) on the same period last year (36,985).
Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) are up 12.8% (2,585) compared to February last year (2,291). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) registrations are also showing an increase of 45.9% (267) in comparison to February 2022 (183).
Imported Used Cars saw a 4.9% (3,990) increase in February 2023, when compared to February 2022 (3,805).
For the month of February 2,219 new electric vehicles were registered compared to 1,614 in February 2022 (+37.5%).
So far this year 5,893 new electric cars have been registered in comparison to 4,311 in the same period 2022.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General commented: "February new car registrations have continued on a similar pattern to January, with a 9.9% increase compared to the same month last year, but still lagging 13% behind pre-Covid February 2019.
"Increased supply, strong Government supports and the State’s commitment to investing in charging infrastructure, are all essential elements in encouraging the transition to electric.
"Drilling into the EV sales patterns, it is important to highlight private customers, who still benefit from the SEAI Grant, account for 75% of EV sales so far this year, with these sales increasing by over 40% when compared to last year.
"On the other hand, sales of new EVs to companies, which don’t benefit from the grant support, and which now attract a higher level of BIK since January, are slightly down on last year.
"This underlines the importance of the grant and it is vital that we don’t interrupt consumer momentum by continuing this support at current levels beyond June".