Data provided by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) is a fantastic tool for dealerships looking to switch up their stock to maximise sales. While the report is lengthy, our summary is to the point and gets you the answers you’re looking for straight away.
We’ve looked at the most popular engine type, colour, car type, transmission and more to help you shape your car stock for the future.
A Brief Look At The 2025 Market
Car Registrations By Body Type
Car Registrations By Engine Type
Automatic Or Manual – Which Sells More?
The Most And Least Popular Car Colours
A Brief Look At The 2025 Market
Take a look at our indepth blog on the best and worst selling cars so far in 2025.
New car registrations are up from the year prior, with 79,301 cars registered so far. This is a 2.38% rise from the year prior, and signals optimism for the rest of the year. Why not also check out our blog on the most and least popular car brands registered this year. To provide a snapshot, the most popular car brand in 2025 is Toyota, with 11,265 registrations, accounting for 14% market share. At the other end of the spectrum, 0 Mistsubishis have been sold.
Most Popular Cars By Class
Medium SUVs are the most registered cars in 2025, with 25,000 making their way onto our roads. This is an 8% increase from last year and perhaps points to a future where medium SUVs dominate even further. The other four car classes that make the top five are:
- Small SUVs: 19,750 have been registered so far in 2025, a 2.4% reduction from the year prior.
- Small Standard: 11,766 have been registered in 2025, a 10% fall from 2024.
- Mini Standard: 7,837 have hit our roads in 2025, a 3.15% drop from last year.
- Large SUV: 4,466 large SUVs have been registered, an increase of 38% from the year prior.
The five least popular car classes are:
- Luxury Prestige.
- Sports Prestige.
- Sports Standard.
- MPV Large.
- MPV Compact.
Car Registrations By Body Type
Here’s the top five most popular body types, plus the number of new car registrations for each category in 2025.
- Hatchback: 26,872 units, a 4% rise from 2024.
- MPV: 20,328 units, a 2.4% increase from last year.
- Station Wagon: 18,430, a 10% increase from 2024.
- Saloon: 7,118 units, a 23% fall from last year.
- Estate: 3,753 units, a 3% fall from 2024.
The least popular body types are:
- Convertible.
- Sports Coupe.
- Jeep.
Car Registrations By Engine Type
Petrol cars top this list, with 21,889 new car registrations in 2024. This is a 14% decrease from 2024, mainly due to the continued growth of hybrids and fully electric cars.
Second on the list is petrol/hybrid mixes, with 18,310 new car registrations. This is up by 16% and confirms industry predictions that EVs and hybrids will continue to grow into the future.
In third place, diesel had 14,000 registrations in the first half of 2025, closely followed by electric at 12,000.
Automatic Or Manual – Which Sells More?
As you can imagine, the pull of automatics and their more relaxed driving demands is popular with a lot of Irish drivers. Latest figures show that 58,000 new automatic cars have been registered, vs 21,000 manual cars.
To further compound the misery on manuals, automatic registrations are 15% higher than in 2024, whereas manual registrations are down 25%. As a car dealer in the process of bolstering their stock, you can’t miss out on the sales potential of automatic vehicles.
The Most And Least Popular Car Colours
Grey is the most common colour for new registrations in 2025, with 31,000. Next in the list is black, at 16,000 registrations. These two colours are accompanied by blue (12,000), white (9,200) and red (6,000) to complete the top five.
At the other end of the scale, the least popular car colours are:
- Blue and black.
- Yellow.
- Brown.
- Grey and black.
- Green.
The Areas Where More Cars Are Registered
As you can imagine, built-up areas where the population is higher will see the most new car registrations. Dublin and Cork lead the way, with 34,000 and 9,000 registrations respectively. These two together make up 54% market share and are both areas you should consider targeting.
The Outlook For Car Dealers
For dealers, stock is everything and the findings in this report could be pivotal to transforming organisational success. For dealers looking to excel, consider the following options when it comes to organising your stockpile.
- Toyota is a brand that sells more than any other.
- Small SUVs are the most popular car class for Irish drivers.
- Hatchbacks are body types that excel on the market.
- Petrol still leads the way amongst fuel types, but hybrids are on the rise.
- Automatics are leaving manuals in the dust.
- Grey cars sell best; yellow and green cars don’t.
- Unsure of what areas to target? Dublin and Cork dominate the market share.
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