The number of new electric vehicles (EVs) licensed in January rose 61 per cent against the same period in 2025, Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures show.
Among new cars licensed in January, hybrid electric vehicles held the largest market share at 31 per cent, or 7,439 of the 24,231 new cars processed in the period.
A total of 5,439 new EVs were licensed in the month, up 61 per cent on the 3,386 licensed in January 2025. The increase drove a widening in the market share of EVs to 22 per cent in the month, ahead of petrol and diesel cars.
CSO transport statistician, Damien Lenihan, noted there were “4,639 new petrol cars licensed in January 2026 compared with 5,929 in the same month in 2025, a fall of 22 per cent, while over the same period, the number of new diesel cars licensed went down by 20 per cent”.
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“Overall, we can see the combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed fell from 43 per cent in January 2025 to 31 per cent in January 2026,” he said.
While EV growth is driving new vehicle licensings, January saw the continuation of the trend in which used vehicle licences of all types have grown significantly faster than those for new cars.
Licenses of used cars grew 39 per cent against the previous January, up 2,538 units. Despite the raw increase in new cars increasing by 2,429, that represented growth of just 9 per cent.
The most popular make of car licensed in January was Toyota, followed by Hyundai and Volkswagen. Across all new cars licensed in the month, the Hyundai Tucson, Toyota Yaris Cross, and Kia Sportage were the most common.
The most popular model of new electric car licensed in the first month of 2026 was the Volkswagen ID.4.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, new private cars licensed increased by 13 per cent in January compared with the previous month. The number of seasonally adjusted used private cars licensed went up by 7 per cent over the same period.
