New figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show that new car registrations rose by 1.9% in April, while registration of battery electric cars jumped by 23.7%.
SIMI said that new car registrations rose to 8,731 in April compared to April last year. Registrations so far this year are up 3.4% to 73,505 from 71,063 the same time last year.
Today’s figures also show that a total of 1,343 new electric cars were registered last month, 23.7% higher than the 1,086 registrations in April 2024 and the fourth consecutive month of growth.
So far this year, 11,311 new electric cars have been registered, marking a 25.5% increase compared to the same time in 2024 when 9,015 electric cars were registered.
In the new car market share by engine type for 2025, petrol cars retain the new car market lead at 27.68%, followed by hybrid (petrol electric) at 23.66%, diesel at 17.36%, electric at 15.39%, and plug-in electric hybrid at 14.29%.
Meanwhile, imported used cars inched up 0.8% to 5,249 from 5,205 in April last year. Year to date imports are up 7.5% to 22,237 on 2024’s figure of 20,693, SIMI added.
SIMI said the top selling new car in April was the Toyota RAV 4, while the top selling new electric car was the Volkswagen ID.4.
Today’s figures show the five top selling new car brands so far this year were Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai and Kia, while the five top selling new car models were the Hyundai Tucson, the Toyota RAV 3, the Toyota Yaris Cross, the Kia Sportage and the Skoda Octavia.
Meanwhile the five top selling electric vehicles brands were Volkswagen, Kia, Hyundai, Tesla and BYD, while the the five top selling electric vehicles models were the Volkswagen ID4, the Kia EV3, the Tesla Model 3, the Kia EV6 and the Hyundai Kona.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, noted that EV sales increased in 25 counties during the first four months of the year.
“SIMI welcomes Minister O’Brien’s announcement on the Regional and Local EV Charging Network Plan. Such initiatives are vital to provide rural drivers with more confidence in EVs,” he added.
He also said the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) market saw an improvement in April with a 15% increase in sales, a positive result following the decline in sales in the first Quarter of the year. LCVs remain 9% behind for the year to date. Heavy Goods Vehicle (HGV) registrations are down 14.6% in April and 8% year to date,” he added.
