Best-Selling New Cars in Ireland: The Year-by-Year Top 10
Quick answer
The Hyundai Tucson was Ireland's best-selling new private car every year from 2023 to 2025. In 2026 it was overtaken by the Toyota Yaris Cross, with the Tucson slipping to third behind the Kia Sportage. SUVs and crossovers fill almost the entire top 10 every year; no saloon or hatchback outside the Toyota Corolla and Yaris line has cracked it since 2023.
The year-by-year top 10
2026 figures are year to date (January-September); every other year is a full year.
2025
| Rank | Model | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hyundai Tucson | 4,313 |
| 2 | Toyota Yaris Cross | 3,414 |
| 3 | Skoda Octavia | 3,405 |
| 4 | Kia Sportage | 3,141 |
| 5 | Toyota Rav4 | 2,886 |
| 6 | Toyota Corolla | 2,717 |
| 7 | Skoda Kodiaq | 2,495 |
| 8 | Hyundai Kona | 2,465 |
| 9 | Volkswagen Tiguan | 2,440 |
| 10 | Volkswagen Golf | 2,385 |
2026 (year to date)
| Rank | Model | Registrations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Toyota Yaris Cross | 3,356 |
| 2 | Kia Sportage | 2,996 |
| 3 | Hyundai Tucson | 2,969 |
| 4 | Skoda Octavia | 2,870 |
| 5 | Toyota Corolla | 2,551 |
| 6 | Skoda Kodiaq | 2,523 |
| 7 | Hyundai Kona | 2,512 |
| 8 | Volkswagen ID.4 | 2,475 |
| 9 | Toyota Rav4 | 2,446 |
| 10 | Toyota C-HR | 2,426 |
See how we calculate these figures for the full 2023-2026 table and source data.
Three years of Hyundai Tucson, then a change at the top
The Hyundai Tucson was Ireland’s best-selling new private car in 2023, 2024 and 2025, every time by a comfortable margin over whatever was in second place. In 2026 it dropped to third, overtaken by the Toyota Yaris Cross (which was 6th in 2024 and 2nd in 2025) and the Kia Sportage. Whether the Tucson actually lost its crown for the full year or just had a slow first nine months won’t be clear until the final quarter’s figures are in.
It’s almost entirely SUVs
Every top-10 list since 2023 is dominated by compact and mid-size SUVs and crossovers: Tucson, Sportage, Rav4, Kona, Tiguan, Kodiaq, C-HR, Yaris Cross. The only non-SUV models to make it in are the Toyota Corolla (a hatchback/saloon) and the Volkswagen Golf, and the Golf has only appeared once, in 2025. The Skoda Octavia sits in an unusual middle ground as a traditionally saloon-bodied car that’s grown large enough to compete directly with SUVs on space.
What this doesn’t tell you
This is the make and model of new private cars licensed for the first time — new registrations, not a measure of overall market share including used imports, and not the same as what’s actually on the road (see the county-by-county fleet breakdown for that). A model’s rank can also shift based on exactly how CSO groups trim levels and generations under one model name.