Sales of plug-in cars overtake diesels this year

Sales of new plug-in cars - either fully electric or plug-in hybrids - have surpassed regular diesel vehicles in popularity.

According to figures from the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (Simi), diesel car sale accounted for 22.8 per cent of total new car registrations in the first three months of this year.

However, registrations of new electric cars made up 16 per cent while plug-in hybrids - both diesel and petrol versions - accounted for 8 per cent of the market, giving a combined share of 24 per cent.

That's still some way off the 32.7 per cent of sales for regular petrol cars, while a further 18 per cent of sales were regular hybrid cars.

However, head of communications with AA Ireland, Paddy Comyn, said "there is definitely a change in the buying habits of new car buyers and there are generous incentives and there are savings possibly to be made by people as they see the rising costs of petrol and diesel."

The latest provisional figures for the first two weeks of April show the trend towards plug-in cars is continuing.

Ford's Kuga PHEV is the best-selling petrol-electric plug-in hybrid, followed by the Kia Sportage. The best-selling fully-electric car this year is the Volkswagen ID.4, followed by Hyundai's Ioniq 5.