New figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry show a big jump in the number of electric cars registered so far this year.
SIMI said a total of 32,079 new electric cars have been registered in the first eight months of the year, a 55% increase on the 20,642 registered during the same time last year.
Electric car registrations rose by 7% to 2,265 in August from 2,115 in August of last year, SIMI added.
Today’s figures also show a big increase in the number of imported used cars registered in August. They soared by 36% to 8,093 from 5,963 in August 2025. Year to date imports are up 37% to 63,815 from 46,661 the same time last year.
Overall, SIMI said that new car registrations for August were up 3% to 7,811 compared with 7,581 in August 2025. Registrations year to date are up 5% to reach 121,979 on the same time last year when a total of 116,068 new cars were registered.
SIMI noted that the new car market share by engine type, battery electric cars lead the market position with 26.3%, followed by hybrid (petrol electric) at 24.14%, petrol at 20.09%, plug-in hybrid at 14.85% and diesel at 12.56%.
Today’s figure also reveal that the top selling new car in August was the Toyota RAV 4, while the top selling new electric car was the Volkswagen ID.4.
SIMI lists the five top selling new car brands in the year to August as Toyota, Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai and Kia, while the five top selling new car models were the Toyota Yaris Cross, the Hyundai Tucson, the Skoda Octavia, the Kia Sportage and the Skoda Kodiaq.
Meanwhile, the five top selling new electric vehicles brands were Kia, Volkswagen, Hyundai, Skoda and Tesla, while the five top selling new EV models so far this year were the Volkswagen 1D.4, the Tesla Model Y, the Skoda Enyaq, the Skoda Elroq and the Toyota BZ4X.
Brian Cooke, SIMI Director General, said the market shift towards battery electric vehicles is clearly evident, and it is crucial that the Government supports this trend with incentives that build on this momentum in what is still a developing market.
“Budget 2027 provides the Government with the opportunity to build on the success in BEV sales by extending and retaining the current incentives (the SEAI Grant, vehicle registration tax (VRT) relief, and 0% Benefit-In-Kind (BIK) threshold) that are vital in sustaining consumer confidence,” Brian Cooke said.
“This would enable more households and businesses to make the switch, while also supporting our climate change goals. Additional targeted measures like the scrappage scheme, investment in high-powered public charging infrastructure and a focus on the business sectors can also help increase our national fleet and our second-hand BEV market,” he stated.
“Now is the time to invest in incentives to drive change,” he added.
