244 new tractors were licensed for the first time in March according to the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

That is down 53 units when compared to the same month in 2021 when close to 300 new tractors were registered.

However, it is an increase on the 232 new tractors licensed in February.

During the first quarter of 2022, 728 new tractors were registered, which is down from 795 in Q1 2021.

new tractors machinery licenced cork

The data shows that 203 used (imported) tractors were licensed for the first time last month.

This is considerably back on March 2021 when 355 units were registered.

In the first three months of this year, the CSO said that 629 used (imported) tractors were licensed, which is  down from 1,088 in Q1 2021.

In total, 447 tractors were registered in March.

Meanwhile, the CSO figures show that 11,872 new private cars were licensed for the first time last month; this is an increase of 11% compared with March 2021.

The number of used (imported) private cars licensed decreased by 41% compared with March 2021.

The popularity of electric and plug-in hybrid cars continues to grow.

In the first three months of 2022, 21% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).

The share of new electric-only cars licensed was more than double that of the same period in 2021 (5,388 compared with 2,314).

There were 10,609 new diesel private cars licensed in the first quarter of 2022, compared with 14,266 in the same period in 2021.

The most popular brand of new car in the first three months of the year was Toyota (7,713 units) followed by Hyundai (5,632), Kia (3,311), Skoda (2,937) and Volkswagen (2,847).

Together these five badges represent more than half (54%) of all new private cars licensed during Q1 2022

In Q1 2022, 6,855 new goods vehicles were licensed compared with the same timeframe in 2021 when there were 6,852.