EVs market share on verge of overtaking diesel cars

The market share of electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid cars have continued to grow against combustion variants, making up nearly one third of all new cars in the first half of the year, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.

While the total number of new private cars licensed in the period rose 50 per cent overall to 5,259 in June 2025 against 3,499 in the same period in 2024, the biggest relative growth was seen in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles licensed.

The plug-in hybrid category more than soubled from 290 in June last year to 609 this year. This helped to grow its market share from 9 per cent to 15 per cent in the first half of the year.

EVs also saw their market share grow. CSO transport statistician Damien Lenihan, said the figures show a “38 per cent increase in the number of electric cars licensed for the first time in June 2025 (1,225) when compared with the same month in 2024 (886)”.

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The rise in EV car sales in the past month helped to grow its market share in the first half of the year to 17 per cent, from 14 per cent in the first six months of 2024. The combined share of plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles grew, in the period, to 32 per cent of car sales.

The share of new private petrol car licenses issued dropped from 33 per cent during the period of 2024, to 27 per cent, with diesel cars falling from 23 per cent of licenses to 17 per cent. This is the same percentage share of the market as EVs among new vehicles, though diesel remained 337 licenses ahead in the underlying numbers.

Volkswagen was the most popular new car brand in the country in June, accounting for 16 per cent of all car sales, followed by Skoda at 13 per cent, Hyundai at 10 per cent, Tesla and Toyota. Collectively, the five most popular brands made up more than half, 54 per cent, of all new private cars in June.

Of new electric vehicles, Tesla offerings were the two of the three most popular models, the Model 3 made up 21 per cent of newly licensed vehicles, with the Model Y accounting for 15 per cent, followed by the Hyundai Inster (9 per cent).

The total number of car licenses issues in June, which includes imported used cars, grew 16 per cent year on year in June, from 13,523 to 15,750. All new car registrations in the month, including private and goods vehicles, made up just over half of this number despite the strong used vehicle market.