The total number of new private cars licensed in April 2025 increased by 5% in comparison with the same period in 2024 (13,033 vs 12,409).
The number of used (imported) cars licensed increased by 3% (5,537 vs 5,399) in April 2025 compared with April 2024.
The number of new electric vehicles (EVs) licensed in April rose by 23% when compared with April 2024 (1,783 vs 1,444). This means the share of EVs among new private cars from January to April was 16% compared with 13% in the same period of 2024.
The number of new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) licensed in April 2025 grew by 73% when compared with April 2024 (1,761 vs 1,017). This has increased the year-to-date share of PHEVs among new private cars to 15% from 8% in the same period of 2024.
The combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed from January to April 2025 has fallen in comparison with 2024 (44% vs 56%).
Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in April 2025.
Registration and licensing figures may differ in a given month for a number of reasons, some of which are outlined below:
Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in April 2021 to April 2025.
| Table 1 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class | |||||||||
| Taxation Class | April | January - April | |||||||
| 2024 | 2025 | Change | 2024 | 2025 | Change | ||||
| New vehicles | |||||||||
| New Private Cars | 12,409 | 13,033 | 624 | 5% | 62,165 | 64,299 | 2,134 | 3% | |
| New Goods Vehicles | 3,920 | 3,130 | -790 | -20% | 12,728 | 11,859 | -869 | -7% | |
| New Tractors | 232 | 240 | 8 | 3% | 974 | 927 | -47 | -5% | |
| New Motor Cycles | 307 | 294 | -13 | -4% | 1,079 | 1,005 | -74 | -7% | |
| New Exempt Vehicles | 593 | 704 | 111 | 19% | 2,650 | 2,910 | 260 | 10% | |
| New Other | 294 | 328 | 34 | 12% | 967 | 1,082 | 115 | 12% | |
| Total New Vehicles | 17,755 | 17,729 | -26 | 0% | 80,563 | 82,082 | 1,519 | 2% | |
| Used (imported) vehicles | |||||||||
| Used private cars | 5,399 | 5,537 | 138 | 3% | 20,273 | 21,735 | 1,462 | 7% | |
| Used goods vehicles | 1,026 | 1,069 | 43 | 4% | 3,500 | 3,938 | 438 | 13% | |
| Used tractors | 262 | 242 | -20 | -8% | 888 | 895 | 7 | 1% | |
| Used motorcycles | 304 | 322 | 18 | 6% | 892 | 936 | 44 | 5% | |
| Used other vehicles | 593 | 644 | 51 | 9% | 1,939 | 2,158 | 219 | 11% | |
| Total used vehicles | 7,584 | 7,814 | 230 | 3% | 27,492 | 29,662 | 2,170 | 8% | |
| Total all vehicles | 25,339 | 25,543 | 204 | 1% | 108,055 | 111,744 | 3,689 | 3% | |
Figure 2 In April 2025 14% of all new private cars licensed were electric.
| Most popular makes of new cars, April 2025 | |
| Toyota | 13 |
| Volkswagen | 13 |
| Skoda | 9 |
| Kia | 7 |
| Hyundai | 7 |
| Other | 50 |
| Most popular make of new electric model cars, April 2025 | |
| Volkswagen ID.4 | 13 |
| Toyota BZ4X | 5 |
| Kia EV 6 | 5 |
| Kia EV 3 | 4 |
| TeslaModel 3 | 4 |
| Other | 69 |
| X-axis label | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | Jan -Apr 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <1 year old | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1-2 years old | 11 | 7 | 9 | 8 | 7 |
| 3-5 years old | 56 | 36 | 29 | 27 | 23 |
| 6-9 years old | 25 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 40 |
| Over 10 years old | 7 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 29 |
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Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (12 April 2025) published Vehicles Licensed for the First Time for April 2025.
Commenting on the data, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show a 23% increase in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in April 2025 (1,783) when compared with the same month in 2024 (1,444). We also saw growth in the licensing of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) which were up 73% from 1,017 in April of 2024 to 1,761 vehicles in April 2025.
In the first four months of 2025, 17,446 new cars licensed were petrol compared with 19,934 in the same period of 2024, a fall of 12%. Comparing the first four months of 2025 with 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed fell by 25% (10,917 vs 14,612).
The total number of used private cars licensed in April 2025 rose by 3% compared with the same period in 2024 (5,537 vs 5,399). There were 1,504 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in April 2025, compared with 1,425 in the same period of 2024, an increase of 6%.
Data also shows that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in April 2025 at 1,732 vehicles, followed by Volkswagen (1,694), Skoda (1,180), Kia (972), and Hyundai (902). Together, these five makes represented 50% of all new private cars licensed in April 2025 (See Table 4).
The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in April 2025 was Volkswagen ID.4 (226), followed by Toyota BZ4X (91), and Kia EV6 (81) (See TEM28 for further information).”