124,954 new cars registered in Ireland in 2025, with EVs up 35% 

Electric and hybrid vehicles now dominate more than half of Ireland’s car market as overall registrations continue to rise

New electric car registrations jumped 35% in 2025, helping Ireland comfortably exceed Climate Action Plan targets.

Registrations of new electric cars in Ireland rose by 35% in 2025, with 23,601 new EVs registered during the year.

In total, 124,954 new cars were registered in Ireland in 2025, an increase of 3% on 2024 (121,316), according to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).

“The new car market in 2025 finished in line with projections," said SIMI director general Brian Cooke. 

"Battery-electric cars reached 23,601 units, an increase of 35% on 2024, the highest level of sales annually, surpassing the previous record year of 2023, with an increase in registrations in every county. This, along with the increase in plug-in hybrid registrations, meant that Ireland comfortably surpassed the 2025 Climate Action Plan targets."

In Cork, new EV registrations rose by 41% to 2,310 vehicles. In Dublin, 11,151 EVs were registered, up 23%. Kerry recorded 420 EV registrations, while Clare saw 390, Limerick 645, Tipperary 451, and Waterford 478.

Petrol cars remained the most popular engine type in 2025, accounting for 25.11% of the market, despite a decline in share. 

Electric (18.89%), hybrid (22.48%), and plug-in hybrid (14.82%) vehicles now account for more than 56% of the market, while diesel stands at 17.09%.

The hatchback remained Ireland’s top-selling car body type in 2025, while grey retained its position as the best-selling colour for the 10th consecutive year.

Automatic transmissions accounted for 75.25% of the market, while manual transmissions fell to 24.73%.

Some 71,813 imported used cars were registered during the year, up 16.6% on 2024 (61,583).

Light commercial vehicle sales rose 7% year-on-year, while HGV registrations fell by 5%.

"The 261 sales period has now commenced, and the Irish Motor Industry is optimistic for the year ahead," said Mr Cooke.

The five top-selling new car brands in 2025 were Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai, and Kia. The top five new car models were the Hyundai Tucson, the Skoda Octavia, the Kia Sportage, the Toyota Yaris Cross, and the Toyota RAV.

The top-selling EV brand was Volkswagen, followed by Kia, Tesla, Hyundai, and Skoda. The five most popular EV models were the Volkswagen ID, the Tesla Model 3, the Kia EV3, the Tesla Model Y, and the Hyundai Inster.