Registrations over the first two months of the year are up 18.3%, to 47,882.

Despite this increase, the number of electric cars registered during last month actually decreased year-on-year by 15.5%, to 1,866.

So far this year, 5,968 new electric cars have been registered, which is a 1.4% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

SIMI director general Brian Cooke said the slowing of electric car sales is not unique to Ireland and is reflective of other new-car markets.

“It is typical of the life- cycle in the adoption of any new technology, where there is a gap between early adopters and the early majority consumers,” he said.

“This is happening at a time when we need to accelerate the growth in EV sales.”

Mr Cooke said the electrification of the car fleet is “strategically important” but to speed up their adoption, the industry and the Government must keep working together.

“For the industry, this means the rolling out of more EV models. For Government, it means extending incentives and investing in the national charging infrastructure,” he said.

The vehicle category which saw the largest increase in registrations were light commercial vehicles, which increased 36.8% during the month to 3,515. Registration of heavy goods vehicles increased 14.2%, to 267.

Registration of imported used cars rose 24% to 4,945.

Petrol cars retain the largest share of new-car registrations accounting for nearly 33% last month, followed by diesel at 23.7%. Petrol-hybrid cars made up 21.5% of registrations, with electric accounting for 12.46% and plug-in electric hybrid’s accounting for 7.76%.

Toyota was the number one-selling car brand.