There’s been a huge shift towards hybrid cars in Kerry.
Data from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry on the number of passenger cars sold shows that one in four cars being bought in Kerry are now petrol electric hybrids.
The number of new car sales overall has increased in Kerry so far this year by around 6%.
The SIMI figures show a dramatic shift away from petrol and diesel cars, among new passenger cars being bought in Kerry, and a move towards electric, and petrol electric (hybrid) cars.
Back in 2024, almost a third of all new passenger cars being sold in Kerry were diesel, and another 30% were petrol cars.
However, just two years later, petrol electric hybrid cars are now the most popular type of new passenger car being sold in Kerry, with over 26% of the market share.
430 new petrol electric hybrid cars have been sold in Kerry so far this year, far ahead of petrol in second at 342 sales.
Petrol’s market share of new car sales in Kerry has dropped to 20%, and now just 16% of new car sales in Kerry are diesel engines.
Sales of new electric cars in Kerry have shot up by 61% and have overtaken diesel sales, and are even now rivalling the sale of new petrol cars.
One in five new cars being sold in Kerry are now fully electric.
The rise in electric sales also mean that the number of automatic cars being sold in Kerry have increased, with manual sales decreasing.
There have been over two and a half times as many automatic cars sold in Kerry this year as manuals.
Toyota is still the most popular make of new car being sold in Kerry, but the Hyundai Tucson is still the most popular individual model of new car in the Kingdom, and grey the most popular colour.