Rise in e-car sales help put Kilkenny motor dealers on road to recovery
New car sales are on the rise in the Kilkenny, according to new figures.
Stats released by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) this week reveal new vehicle registrations rose by 4.3% last year when compared to 2020.
However, the rate of recovery seen in the sector locally lagged behind the overall 19% rise experienced nationally.
And the Kilkenny figures were significantly behind those recorded in some of our neighbouring counties, including Waterford (28.6%) and Carlow (14.2%).
Nationally, the total number of new car registrations reached 104,932 for 2021, which is still 10.4% down on the pre-pandemic figure recorded in 2019.
A total of 8,646 new electric cars were registered in 2021, an increase on the 4,013 registrations seen in 2020 and 3,444 in 2019.
Other stats of note show a changing market place in 2021. Diesel accounted for 33.44%, petrol 32.16%, hybrid 16.22%, electric 8.24%, and plug-in hybrid 7.26%. Diesel remains the most popular engine type despite a decline in its market share last year (9.85%) while hybrid, electric and plug-in hybrid continue to gain market share in 2021.
Commenting on the figures, SIMI Director General Brian Cooke said: “The difficulties arising from both COVID and Brexit impacted on the supply and demand for cars, which made 2021 another challenging year for the Irish Motor Industry. While new car sales show a 19% increase on 2020, they remain behind 2019 levels.
“On a positive note, the sale of Electric Vehicles (EVs) more than doubled in 2021, and with the sale of EVs being underpinned by SEAI Grants, we can expect to see an increasing number of new EVs on Irish roads in 2022. Commercial Vehicles sales also saw a significant improvement in 2021, with light commercial vehicles up over 30% on 2020, reflecting the increase in business confidence as the year progressed.”
