For the past decade or more, grey has ruled. Almost every new car you see is sprayed in a monochrome metallic grey, especially the SUVs to which we have all become wedded. It's a depressing lack of chromatic variety on Irish roads.
Please, don't. You're just upsetting us…
Ah, but wait -there may be a change in the colour wind, and it's just possible that Irish car buyers are moving away from grey and towards a far more patriotic colour. That's right - we're buying green cars.
Seriously? I thought green cars were unlucky
That's an old wives' tale and probably has something to do with green cars being thought of as harder to see against a background of green hedges and fields. Anyway, apparently, the superstition is on the way out as, according to research from Cartell.ie, the car history checking experts, as we approach St Patrick's Day, Irish car buyers are turning green. Cartell's analysis of figures from SIMI showed that sales of green-coloured cars surged by 108 per cent year-on-year, with 1,957 vehicles sold in January and February 2025 compared to just 942 units in the same period last year.
So, which cars are most likely to be green?
It's actually mostly Toyotas that make up the green wheels on our roads. According to Cartell, the most popular green-coloured cars currently on Irish roads are the Toyota Yaris, followed closely by the Toyota Corolla and Toyota Avensis. The company's data also indicates that green-coloured cars now represent 1.09 per cent of Ireland's total car fleet, approximately 30,278 vehicles out of the 2,777,834 registered nationwide.
Green is No.1! Yay!!
Umm, not quite… Grey is still the most popular colour choice so far this year (sigh…), and black, blue, white, and red are all ahead of green in the sales charts so far in 2025, but their percentages are falling, while green's is rising fast.
Commenting on the findings, Wesley Littleford, Commercial Operations Manager at Cartell.ie, said, “It's wonderful to see Irish motorists enthusiastically adopting green-coloured cars, particularly as we celebrate our national holiday. This remarkable surge highlights not only a sense of national pride but perhaps also aligns with the increasing popularity of distinctive colours inspired by current fashion and interior design trends.”