Number of new cars licensed down 12% in November from year earlier

New car registrations have declined since last year.

The number of new cars licensed slumped by 12.4% in November from a year earlier, show new figures from the CSO. A total of 1,468 new cars were licensed for the first time last month, compared to 1,676 in November 2019. 

However, the CSO said the monthly decrease follows two months of strong growth.

The number of new cars licensed has fallen on an annual basis, with 29,299 fewer cars licensed in the first 11 months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.

The figures also show a growing demand for hybrid and electric vehicles, with more than one in five of all new cars licensed last month falling into this category.

The combined number of new electric and hybrid cars licensed in the 11 months of 2020 is already up 14.5% from the number licensed in all of 2019.

There has also been a fall in the number of diesel cars licensed. 

In the first 11 months, almost 43% of all new private cars licensed were diesel, compared to 47% for the same period last year.

Volkswagen was the most popular make of new private car licensed in November, followed by Skoda, Toyota, Renault, and Ford.

“Data for the year to date shows that the number of new cars licensed was 29,299 lower than in the same period of 2019, a drop of 26%," said CSO statistician Olive Loughnane.

"This fall is due to the very low numbers licensed during the peak of the Covid-19 crisis.” 

The number of used cars licensed in November also declined by just over 20%, but the CSO said decreases in the number of used cars licensed were evident prior to the onset of the pandemic.