The number of new electric cars licensed for the first time increased by 61% in January compared to the same period last year, accounting for 22% of the new car market, new data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows.
Overall, there were 24,231 new private cars licensed for the first time in January as the new 261 licence plates were rolled out. This is an 8% increase compared to January 2025.
Data shows that Toyota was the most popular make of new private car licensed in January 2026 with 3,692 vehicles, followed by Hyundai at 3,011, Volkswagen at 2,106, Kia at 2,060, and Skoda at 1,945.
Together, these five makes represented 53% of all new private cars licensed in the month.
There were 5,439 electric cars registered for the first time with the most popular model being the Volkswagen ID.4 with 462 sold, followed by the Hyundai Inster on 281, and the Hyundai Kona on 254.
There were 6,872 new hybrid petrol-electric cars sold during the month with the number of plug-in hybrids licensed for the first time growing by 10% year-on-year to 3,781.
In addition, the number of new petrol cars licensed in January fell by 22% to 4,639 while new diesel cars dropped 20% to 2,933.Â
Overall, the combined share of petrol and diesel cars among new private cars licensed fell from 43% in January 2025 to 31% in January 2026.
The number of used imported cars licensed increased by 46% during the month to 7,028 from 4,827. In terms of commercial vehicles, the number of new goods vehicles increased by 23% in January to 2,887.
