The number of new private cars licensed in Ireland has increased by 3 per cent over the first four months of 2025 compared with last year after a fall in vehicles sales in 2024, Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures have revealed.
Published on Monday, the new data shows the number of new private cars licensed in the State for the first time jumped 5 per cent in April to 13,033.
It meant that over the first four months of 2025, almost 64,300 new private cars were licensed, up more than 3 per cent from 2024.
Of the more than 13,000 new cars licensed for the first time in April, 1,783 were electric vehicles, up 23 per cent on the same month in 2024, the CSO said.
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“We also saw growth in the licensing of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which were up 73 per cent from 1,017 in April of 2024 to 1,761 vehicles in April 2025,” said Damien Lenihan, a statistician in the CSO’s transport section.
Almost 17,200 of the 116,683 new private cars registered for the first time in 2024 were electric, a 15 per cent share of the market. That was compared with 19 per cent in 2023, when volumes stood at 22,493. Concerns over charging infrastructure and changes to the grant for electric vehicles have chilled consumer demand.
Meanwhile, the number of new petrol cars licensed continued to decline, falling 12 per cent to 14,446 in the first four months of 2025 compared with 19,934 last year. Licensed diesel cars also fell 25 per cent over the same period to 10,917.
The number of second-hand private cars licensed in April rose 3 per cent to 5,537, the CSO said. The number of imported diesel cars licensed, meanwhile, rose 6 per cent to slightly more than 1,500.
Toyota was the most popular brand of new private car licensed in the State last month at 1,732, followed by Volkswagen with 1,694.
Volkswagen was the most popular brand of electric vehicle last month, followed by Toyota.
