Used car registrations jump up a quarter as new car sales decline
The number of imported used cars licensed for the first time in November increased by a quarter year-on-year, new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show.
A total of 6,413 used cars were licensed last month, up by nearly 1,300 from the 5,124 registered in the same month a year ago.
The increase in used car registrations converged from the trend in sales of new private cars (-6%) and new private electric cars (-9%).
There were 1,901 new private cars licensed in November, down from 2,024 in the same month last year. Within the segment, the number of new EVs registered dropped from 575 to 531.
EVs share of new car registrations for the year to date stands at 19% compared to 15% this time last year.
The number of new plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) licensed in November 2025 grew by 19% when compared with November 2024 (277 vs 232), leading the year-to-date share of PHEVs among new private cars to jump from 9% to 15%.
Conversely, the share of petrol and diesel cars among new private car registrations has fallen to 43% from 54% during the first 11 months of 2024.
Today’s figures from the CSO show a 9% fall in the number of new private electric cars licensed for the first time in November 2025 (521) when compared with the same month in 2024 (575)," said Damien Lenihan, statistician in the transport section of the CSO.
"We saw growth in the licensing of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), which were up 19% from 232 in November 2024 to 277 new private cars in November 2025.
"In the first 11 months of 2025, there was a rise of 38% in new private EVs licensed when compared with the same period in 2024 (23,134 vs 16,786).
"There were 31,031 new petrol cars licensed compared with 36,208 in the same period of 2024, a fall of 14%. Comparing the first 11 months of 2025 with 2024, the number of new diesel cars licensed went down by 23% (20,402 vs 26,562)."
Used car registrations rose by a quarter last month.
Volkswagen captured a 13% share of new car registrations in November, making it the most popular carmaker ahead of Skoda (10%), Toyota (7%), Kia (7%) and Tesla (6%).
The Tesla Model Y (14%) and Tesla Model 3 (8%) were the most popular EV models for the month, beating out the Ford Explorer (7%), Kia EV 4 (6%) and the BYD Sealion 7 (5%).
(Pic: Getty Images)
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