The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has confirmed that 232 new tractors were licensed for the first time in February.

This is a decrease of eight units compared to the same month last year.

During the first two months of 2022, 484 new tractors were registered for the first time, which is down from almost 500 (498) in the same period last year.

252 new tractors were licensed for the first time in January, according to the CSO.

The data shows that 233 used (imported) tractors were licensed for the first time last month.

This is considerably down on the February 2021 figure of 366.

193 such vehicles were licensed during the month of January, meaning that 426 units were registered in the first two months of the year.

This is a significant decrease on January and February 2021 when 733 used (imported) tractors were licensed for the first time.

In total, 465 tractors were registered for the first time in February.

Last month, 13,643 new private cars were licensed, an increase of 17% compared with February 2021.

The number of used (imported) private cars registered in February 2022 was 3,929, a drop of 41% when compared with February 2021.

electric vehicle ev

The popularity of electric and plug-in hybrid cars continue to grow. In the first two months of the year, over a fifth of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric or plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV).

The market share of new electric cars registered was almost three times that of the same period in 2021.

In the first two months of 2022, 24% of new private cars licensed were diesel, compared with 36% in the same period in 2021

Hyundai was the most popular brand of new private car licensed with 2,088 units, followed by Toyota with 2,044; Kia with 1,188; Skoda with 1,065; and 873 units for Volkswagen.

These five makes represent 53% of all new private cars licensed in February 2022.