Ireland registered 7,811 new cars in August 2026, electric now 26.3% of the year

Ireland registered 7,811 new cars in August 2026, up 3% on August 2025, taking the year-to-date total to 121,979, up 5% (SIMI, 1 September 2026). Battery-electric registrations for the year reached 32,079 units, up 55%, giving electric a 26.3% share, the largest single powertrain in Ireland's 2026 market.

August 2026 headline numbers

Metric	August 2026	vs August 2025
New car registrations	7,811	+3%
Battery-electric	2,265	+7%
YTD new cars	121,979	+5%
YTD battery-electric	32,079	+55%

Year-to-date powertrain mix

Powertrain	Share of 2026 registrations
Electric	26.3%
Hybrid (petrol electric)	24.14%
Petrol	20.09%
Plug-in hybrid	14.85%
Diesel	12.56%

SIMI is already lobbying for Budget 2027

SIMI's own release names Budget 2027 directly, asking the Government to extend and retain the SEAI grant, VRT relief and the 0% benefit-in-kind threshold, plus targeted measures such as the scrappage scheme, so that the 55% year-to-date electric growth continues. That is a policy position layered on top of a genuinely strong number, worth reading as two separate facts: the growth is real, and the industry body wants it protected.

Source and methodology

Figures from the SIMI August 2026 release, published 1 September 2026, and independently corroborated by RTE. total_registrations follows SIMI's official year-to-date print of 121,979; the sum of the published monthly series is 122,109 because SIMI revises its cumulative figures. The live monthly bars, county split and fuel mix sit on the Ireland dashboard.