Reflecting a continuation of ongoing trends, petrol car registrations dropped by -15% but still account for just over half of all cars sold. Diesel sales were down -8% to claim a 6% share. Both hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) recorded volume growth and saw their market shares rise to 13% and 9% respectively. Battery electric vehicle (BEV) registrations continued recent growth trends, with volumes up by 42% year on year to take a 21% market share. Fleet sales continued to dominate, taking 63% of the market compared to the 35% of private retail sales. SUVs dominated the Top Five sales with the Kia Sportage, Nissan Qashqai separated from the fifth position Peugeot 3005 by the popular hatchbacks, Vauxhall Corsa and Volkswagen Golf. Despite the increase in the month, the BEV market share still remains short of the 22% target set by government for last year, and even further behind the 28% requirement for 2025. Adding to the concern about meeting government targets – and the financial penalties for not meeting them – future developments don’t help. The SMMT highlights the fact that private retail buyers still lack a meaningful incentive to buy a fully electric car. Furthermore, the introduction of the Vehicle Excise Duty ‘Expensive Car Supplement’ (ECS) to BEVs in just two months’ time comes at the worst time for the industry. It means EV models costing more than £40,000 – the majority on the market, given higher production costs – will incur a £3,110 tax bill over the first six years of ownership – compared with zero at present. The Society sees the change as impacting on both the new and used car markets, further endangering the all-electric transition. As a result, the industry is calling for tax plans to be revised to ensure the system is fair and avoids dissuading those who want to buy an EV. The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) has also released its official ‘251’ new vehicle registration statistics for January, showcasing a promising start to the year for the motor industry. New car registrations for the month of January were up 7% (33,521) compared to January 2024 (31,407). Electric Vehicle (EV) sales experienced a record-breaking month with the highest sales recorded to date, 4,925 registrations in the first month of the year. This represents a 20% increase when compared to 4,093 registered in January 2024. When it comes to engine preferences, Petrol cars remain the leader at 28%, followed by Hybrid (Petrol Electric) 25%, Diesel at 16%, All-electric at 15% and Plug-in Electric Hybrid at 14%. Automatic transmissions dominate, accounting for 72% of market share, while manual transmissions continue to see a decline at 28%. It was also a good month for imported used cars which saw a rise of 5% - 5,604 when compared to the 5,325 sales in January 2024. However, Light Commercial vehicles (LCV) were down 16% (6,270) in the same period.