October was the second strongest month this year for new vehicle registrations thanks to the rental fleet.

The Motor Industry Association (MIA) has just released registration figures for last month, with 12,571 new vehicle sales recorded.

MIA’s Chief Executive, Aimee Wiley, noted that the October data revealed distinct patterns across vehicle categories, reflecting the market’s evolving dynamics.

“Rental registrations comprised 36.5% of Light Passenger sales this October, rising from 31.7% in October last year,” said Wiley.

“Year-to-date, rentals contributed 14.3% of Light Passenger sales, slightly up from 12.6% in the same period last year. This steady increase points to growth in rental fleet expansion, aligning with the sustained interest in short-term and travel rentals.”

The top seller was the rental gold star, the Toyota RAV4 hybrid, with 1354 registrations.

Ford Ranger took second spot with 732 registrations and rival, Toyota Hilux, was third with 652 sales.

The Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) and Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) segments are still struggling due to Road User Chargers. 

There were 648 BEVs registered and 345 PHEVs as opposed to non-plug-in hybrids with 3,347 sales.

Year-to-date, the best month for new vehicle sales was January with 12,649 registrations.