Registrations of new cars in Ireland (which, as we always note, are not necessarily the same as actual sales, but the two are closely related) fell by 25 per cent in November compared to the same month last year. That sounds disastrous, but the actual total numbers involved are not that big.
How big was the fall in real terms?
Because November is traditionally a quiet month for the Irish car trade, we're actually only talking about a fall from 1,121 registrations in November 2024 to 838 in November 2025. Not a great figure, to be sure, but hardly a major disaster.
How does it affect the overall figures for the year?
Not very much as it happens. For the year to date, registrations are up by 3.1 per cent, to 124,680 new cars (the figure for this time last year was 120,893).
Imported used cars have seen a 28.4 per cent (6,373) rise in November 2025, when compared to November 2024 (4,962). Year-to-date imports are up 14.4 per cent (66,825) on 2024 (58,408).
EVs hit a bit of a speed-bump, though - in November just gone, 348 new electric cars (battery electric cars) were registered, which was 31.9 per cent lower than the 511 registrations in November 2024. So far this year, 23,431 new electric cars have been registered, representing a 36.5 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024, when 17,164 electric cars were registered.
In the new car market share by engine type for 2025, Petrol cars continue as the new car market leader at 25.14 per cent, followed by Hybrid (Petrol Electric) at 22.51 per cent, Electric at 18.79 per cent, Diesel at 17.1 per cent, and Plug-in Electric Hybrid at 14.84 per cent.
What's the industry saying about the figures?
Brian Cooke, Director General of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI, which compiles the registration data), said: "November new car registrations declined by 25 per cent when compared to the same month last year. With November being a quiet month for new car sales, year-to-date new car sales remain three per cent ahead of 2024, with a total of 124,680 new cars registered. New battery-electric car registrations declined by 32 per cent in November, when compared to November last year, but this has not undermined the overall BEV market. In fact, in 2025, we have now surpassed the previous record year of 2023 for BEV registrations. To the end of November 23,431 BEVs have been registered, a 37 per cent increase on the same period last year and a 3 per cent increase on 2023. This growth in new BEV registrations has been reflected in every county this year.
"In the commercial vehicle sector, both light and heavy commercial vehicles experienced strong activity in November. Light Commercial Vehicle registrations are showing a 95 per cent increase for the month and a six per cent increase year-to-date. Heavy Goods Vehicle registrations saw a 17 per cent increase in November, although registrations are seven per cent down on last year. With the end of the year fast approaching, the Industry's focus will firmly be set towards its key selling period at the start of 2026, with generous new car incentives for customers across all brands and market segments on offer.”
What's topping the charts?
Once again, the Hyundai Tucson reigns supreme in 2025 in Ireland, and unless there's some kind of weird sales plummet in December, we can't see that changing - it's the best-selling car in Ireland and has been for most of the past decade. In second place is the Skoda Octavia, followed by the Kia Sportage, Toyota Yaris Cross, and Toyota RAV4.
The best-selling brand for the year so far is still Toyota, followed by Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai, and Kia. When it comes to electric cars, the best-selling brands are VW, Kia, Tesla, Hyundai, and Skoda. The best-selling EV models are the Volkswagen ID.4, Tesla Model 3, Kia EV3, Tesla Model Y, and Hyundai Inster.
The best-selling new car in November was the Tesla Model Y, which is something of a statistical blip, as November is when Tesla tends to get a big delivery of cars into Ireland.