If you walked into any car dealership in Ireland during January 2024, you would have seen the same thing: SUVs and crossovers dominating the showroom floor. That is not a showroom design choice. It reflects what people are actually buying. In 2024, SUVs and crossovers accounted for roughly 55% of all new car registrations in Ireland. That share is AutoNergy's own estimate, not a SIMI figure.
Toyota: The Brand That Just Keeps Winning
Toyota has been Ireland's best-selling car brand for years running, and 2024 was no different. Toyota finished ahead of Volkswagen, Skoda, Hyundai and Kia on SIMI's year-end brand ranking. What makes Toyota's dominance unusual is how broad-based it is. They do not rely on a single hero model. The RAV4 and the Yaris Cross were both among the five best-selling models of 2024, and the Corolla (in hatchback, saloon, and touring sports forms) is a long-running volume seller.
The common thread is hybrid. Toyota bet early and heavily on hybrid technology, and that bet has paid off in Ireland, where the VRT system rewards low CO2 emissions. Most Toyota models sold in Ireland are now hybrid by default, giving buyers decent fuel economy without requiring a charging point at home.
The Top 10 Models
SIMI's year-end release names the five best-selling models of 2024: the Hyundai Tucson first, followed by the Skoda Octavia, Kia Sportage, Toyota RAV4 and Toyota Yaris Cross. The mix is revealing. Four of those five are SUVs or crossovers, and the Octavia is the only conventional car among them.
The SUV Takeover Is Complete
Ireland followed the global pattern, just a few years behind. On AutoNergy's own estimates, SUVs and crossovers made up roughly 25% of new Irish registrations in 2015, around 40% in 2020 and about 55% in 2024. The compact crossover segment (think Hyundai Kona, Toyota Yaris Cross, VW T-Cross) is where most of the growth has happened. These are not the large, fuel-hungry SUVs of a decade ago. They are essentially hatchbacks with raised ride heights and slightly more cargo space.
This matters because it changes the economics. Higher ride height means slightly higher drag, which means slightly worse fuel economy, which means slightly higher CO2 per kilometre. At a market level, the SUV shift is partly why average fleet CO2 has been slow to fall despite the EV surge.
Who Lost Ground?
Ford, once a top-three brand in Ireland, has continued to slide. The Fiesta was discontinued in 2023, and the Focus faces an uncertain future. Peugeot and Renault have also faded relative to their mid-2010s peaks. Meanwhile, Dacia has been the surprise performer, with the Duster and Sandero appealing to budget-conscious buyers.
Head to the Brand Wars section on AutoNergy to watch how these brand rankings have shifted year by year since 2010, with the animated race chart showing exactly when Toyota pulled away from the pack.
Source: SIMI, 2 January 2025 for the brand and model rankings. Body-type shares are AutoNergy estimates.