Vehicle registrations in July plunged to less than half the usual monthly average, with 6202 units notched according to the latest figures from the Motor Industry Association, largely owing to changes in the Clean Car Discount.
July 2023 was 44.1% lower than July 2022, 54.9% lower than the monthly average for 2022 and 49.6% lower than the average of the first five months of 2023. Last month was the lowest monthly registration count since April 2011, excluding the Level 4 Covid lockdown in April 2020.
However, following the market high in June, on a year-to- date basis, 2023 registrations are now only 2.0% lower (1,893 units) compared to 2022 registrations.
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The Ford Ranger retook its registration crown, but numbers are way down across the board.
July’s drop was expected, considering the rampant previous month, but the MIA expressed concern over the extent of market disruption following Clean Car Discount policy changes.
Toyota led the month in terms of overall market share with 16.7% market share (1036 units), followed by Ford with 14.5% (899 units) and Kia with 8.1% (501 units). However, the Ford Ranger took back its monthly crown with 518 units sold, ahead of the Toyota RAV4 (319 units) and the Toyota Hilux (270 units).
Meanwhile, electric vehicle sales also took a hit, with 787 units registered, 64.9% of the average per-month figure for 2023 so far. The top models were Tesla Model Y (169 units), Kia Niro (147 units), interestingly followed by the Volkswagen ID.4 (63 units). Presumably these are pre-sale registrations.
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The Volkswagen ID.4 appeared in July’s BEV registration list.
Plug-in hybrids dropped 64.9% of their average monthly YTD registrations, with 406 for July. The top 3 models were Mitsubishi Outlander (141 units), followed by Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross (89 units) and the Lexus NX (27 units).
Finally, 1150 hybrids were registered, 51.7% of the average. The top 3 models were Toyota RAV4 (307 units), followed by the Hyundai Tucson (113 units) and the Honda Jazz (75 units).
Hybrids comprised 26.5% of the light passenger segment for July, PHEVs comprised 9.3% and BEVs comprised 18.1%. Combustion vehicles comprised 46.1% of light passenger sales.
