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Vehicles licensed for the first time January 2025

Vehicles licensed for the first time January 2025

New plug-in electric hybrid cars licensed in January 2025 doubled compared with the same month last year

Online ISSN: 2009-5678
CSO statistical release, , 11am

Key Findings

  • The total number of new private cars licensed in January 2025 grew by 8% when compared with the same month in 2024 (22,484 vs 20,861).

  • The number of used (imported) cars licensed increased by 5% (4,826 vs 4,600) over the same period.

  • The number of new plug-in hybrid private cars licensed for the first time in January 2025 increased by 100% when compared with the same month in 2024 (3,427 vs 1,712).

  • In January 2025, 15% of all new cars licensed for the first time were electric compared with 14% in the same period in 2024 (3,386 vs 2,829).

  • The number of new hybrid cars licensed in the first month of 2025 rose by 4% when compared with the same period in 2024 (6,072 vs 5,864). This means the share of hybrids among new private cars fell slightly in comparison to last year, 28% in 2024 from 27% in 2025.

  • The combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed dropped from 50% in 2024 to 42% in 2025 (10,456 vs 9,599).

  • Toyota (3,763) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in January 2025.

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (14 February 2025) published Vehicles licensed for the first time for January 2025. 

Commenting on the release, Damien Lenihan, Statistician in the Transport Section of the CSO, said: “Today’s figures from the CSO show a 20% increase in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in January 2025 (3,386) when compared with the same period in 2024 (2,829). 

In the first month of 2025, 3,670 new cars licensed were diesel compared with 4,337 in the same period in 2024, a fall of 15%. The number of new petrol cars licensed fell by 3% over the same period (5,929 vs 6,119).

Used Private Cars

There were 1,303 used (imported) diesel private cars licensed in January, compared with 1,276 in January 2024, a rise of 2%.

The total number of used private cars licensed in January of 2025 was up 5% compared with the same period in 2024 (See Table 1).

Most Popular Car Brands

Data also shows that Toyota (3,763) was the most popular make of new private car licensed in January 2025, followed by Hyundai (2,729), Volkswagen (1,956), Skoda (1,955), and Kia (1,792). Together, these five makes represented 54% of all new private cars licensed in January 2025 (See Table 4). 

The most popular brand of new electric car licensed in January 2025 was Volkswagen ID.4 (340), followed by Kia EV3 (238), and Hyundai Kona (231) (See TEM28 for further information).”

Editor's Note

Registration and licensing figures may differ in a given month for a number of reasons, some of which are outlined below:

  • Vehicles registered in the latter part of a particular month may not be licensed until a later month because of the time lapse between registration and first licensing.
  • In some cases, a vehicle may be registered by a dealership in advance of a sale.
  • Registered vehicles which are not used in a public place (e.g. tractors for use exclusively on the land) may not need to be licensed.

Cars Licensed

Figure 1 shows data on the number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time in January 2021 to January 2025.

Figure 1: Private Cars Licensed for the first time
Table 1 Number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class
Taxation ClassJanuary
20242025Change
New vehicles
New Private Cars 20,86122,4841,6238%
New Goods Vehicles 2,6792,349-330-12%
New Tractors 266235-31-12%
New Motor Cycles 251240-11-4%
New Exempt Vehicles 6327027011%
New Other 1862112513%
Total New Vehicles 24,87526,2211,3465%
    
Used (imported) vehicles    
Used private cars 4,6004,8262265%
Used goods vehicles 75792216522%
Used tractors 1792295028%
Used motorcycles 152148-4-3%
Used other vehicles 435416-19-4%
Total used vehicles 6,1236,5414187%
     
Total all vehicles 30,99832,7621,7646%
Open in Excel: Vehicles licensed for the first time January 2025 Table 1 (XLS 11KB)
Visit Table TEM01 on PxStat

Cars licensed by fuel type

Figure 2 In January 2025 15% of all new private cars licensed were electric.

Figure 2: New private cars licensed by fuel type, August 2024 to January 2025
Table 2 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by fuel type

Table 3 Annual change in number of new and used private cars by fuel type 2024-2025

Fuel & Emissions Type

Table 4 Number of new private cars licensed for the first time by CO2 emission band and fuel type, January 2025

Car Makes

Most popular makes of new cars, November 2024
Toyota 17
Hyundai12
Volkswagen9
Skoda9
Kia8
Other46
Most popular makes of new cars, November 2023
Toyota 20
Hyundai 13
Volkswagen 7
Skoda 8
Kia 8
Other44
Table 5 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time by make, January 2025

New electric cars by make and model

Most popular make of new electric model cars, January 2025
Volkswagen
ID.4		10
Kia
EV 3		7
Hyundai
Kona		7
Nissan
Leaf		7
Kia
EV 6		5
Other64
Most popular make of new electric model cars, January 2024
Hyundai
Kona		11
Volkswagen
ID.4		8
MG
MG4		5
Skoda
Enyaq		5
Volkswagen
ID.3		5
Other67
Table 6 Top 20 new private cars licensed for the first time classified by fuel type and make and model, January 2025

Imported Cars

X-axis label2021202220232024Jan 2025
<1 year old11110
1-2 years old117987
3-5 years old5636292721
6-9 years old2542424241
Over 10 years old714192331
Table 7 Number of new and used (imported) private cars licensed for the first time

Seasonally Adjusted Figures

X-axis labelUnadjusted dataAdjusted dataTrend
January 20202066587608255
February 20201326386068263
March 20201023969778183
April 2020133810621117
May 2020149017772659
June 2020218950855024
July 20201532973497532
August 2020736086808869
September 2020574791509137
October 2020418995649229
November 2020146864389118
December 20201032106718843
January 20211694882988492
February 20211167277158242
March 20211067266428216
April 2021821469278441
May 2021733786758812
June 20214980109889172
July 202120232103409389
August 2021856391329388
September 2021635494659224
October 2021388286378990
November 2021216788178765
December 202183283468584
January 20221581482218459
February 20221364392328350
March 20221187279238229
April 20221004580578115
May 2022712078228059
June 2022377483998147
July 20221507880198390
August 2022894286148719
September 20227315106298999
October 2022452799659150
November 2022235395069194
December 202286688249182
January 20231678786519218
February 20231328491189346
March 202315782101319589
April 20231127796609890
May 2023104521040810161
June 202355841281410301
July 202318106983810326
August 2023113281066310309
September 202368821021110283
October 202345871014710234
November 20232291983910161
December 202310641071010108
January 2024208611002110050
February 20241397994439975
March 20241491698819876
April 202412409102169738
May 20241005598009573
June 2024349988679387
July 20241851293199202
August 2024928091429071
September 2024611091829078
October 2024399488219240
November 202420249371
December 202410449951
January 20252248410575
Table 8 Seasonally adjusted number of vehicles licensed for the first time classified by taxation class

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