Share of petrol and diesel models in new car market falls to 34%

The number of new electric cars registered surged by 49% during the first six months of the year, according to the Central Statistics Office

Over the first six months of the year, there has been a fall of 20% in the number of new petrol cars licensed to 17,171.

Fri, 10 Jul, 2026 - 12:33

Ronan Smyth

The combined market share of new petrol and diesel cars fell to just 34% during the first six months of the year as the number of new electric cars registered increased by 49% during the same period, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

During June, the total number of new private cars licensed in June 2026 declined by 3% to 5,123 when compared with June 2025. However, the number of new private electric cars licensed during the month rose by 26% 1,539.

So far this year, there have been 81,137 new cars licensed for the first time, of which 19,580 new electric cars registered for the first time — up 49% compared to the same period last year.

This means the share of electric cars among new private cars from January to June 2026 was 24.1% compared with 17% in the same period of 2025.

Whereas the combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed stood at 34% — down from 44% in June last year.

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Damien Lenihan, statistician at the CSO, said over the first six months of the year there has been a fall of 20% in the number of new petrol cars licensed to 17,171.

“Similarly, a 22% decrease in the number of new diesel cars licensed was seen over the same period,” he said, to 10,418.

Hybrid cars accounted for 27.1% of the market while plug-in hybrids accounted for 14.8%.

Data also shows that Volkswagen was the most popular brand of new private car licensed in June 2026 at 859 vehicles, followed by Tesla at 637, Skoda at 613, Toyota at 489, and BMW at 242.

Together, these five makes represented 55% of all new private cars licensed in June 2026.

Tesla Model 3 was the best selling electric car during the month, with 429 units, followed by the Tesla Model Y at 208, and the Volkswagen ID.4 at 113.

The number of used imported cars grew during June by 42% to 7,714. The number of new goods vehicles was up 11% to 2,330.