Used electric car prices are growing again after three years of decline — up 2.0% year-on-year and 0.6% quarter-on-quarter, now outpacing hybrids (+1.5%) and the main petrol/diesel index (+1.1%) for the first time since early 2023. The recovery is off a very low base: EVs are up just 7.1% since the pandemic versus 42.4% for hybrids and 92.0% for the main ICE index.
Used EVs are still cheaper than like-for-like diesel (-10.7%) and hybrid (-13.3%), though that gap is narrowing.
Brexit’s import shift looks permanent: Japan supplied 55% of Ireland’s used imports in H1 2026 (33,065 cars), UK share down to 14%. Notably, German premium brands (via Japan) are a big chunk of that — VW alone brought in more cars from Japan than Toyota did in 2025.
New analysis from DoneDeal Cars, Ireland’s largest car marketplace, shows that used electric car prices have returned to growth after three years of decline, and are now rising faster than both hybrids and the wider internal combustion market. The findings come from the H1 2026 DoneDeal Cars Price Index, an independent analysis of more than five million vehicle listings carried out by economist Dr Tom Gillespie.
Three years of falling EV values have ended
The decline in used electric values began in 2023, when new car discounting and grant reductions collided with a second-hand supply glut. It continued through 2024 and flattened over the course of 2025. The first half of 2026 marks the turn.
The scale of the shift is clearest when measured against where the market stood two years ago. Used EV values are up 2.0% year on year and 0.6% quarter on quarter, against an annual fall of 16.4% in July 2024. What makes it consequential is the comparison across fuel types. The main ICE index rose 1.1% over twelve months and hybrids 1.5%, placing electric ahead of both for the first time since early 2023. Movements in the price index are the strongest determinant of depreciation, so these figures should translate into a marked improvement in how electric cars hold their value.
That recovery starts from a very low base, and the longer view is the important context for anyone weighing an electric car against a petrol or diesel one. Used electric values are up just 7.1% since the pandemic. Hybrids are up 42.4% over the same period and the main ICE index 92.0%. Electric cars gave back almost all of the pandemic-era inflation that the rest of the market kept.
Electric is now the biggest share of the new car market
Registration data tells the same story from the demand side. In July, 9,665 new electric cars were registered in Ireland, ahead of hybrids at 6,295, petrol at 5,344, plug-in hybrids at 4,451 and diesel at 3,261. Measured on a rolling twelve-month basis to smooth the seasonal plate cycle, electric reached 25.3% of the new market in July, narrowly ahead of hybrid at 25.2%, taking the largest single share for the first time. Electric passed petrol in April and hybrid in July. Including August registrations to date, the rolling electric share stands at 26.8%.
The pattern is consistent with the tier data. Older, cheaper cars are outperforming what depreciation alone would predict, because supply at that end of the market is tight. Newer, more expensive cars are depreciating broadly as expected, which after four years of unusually strong residuals is itself a return to normal.
What that meant for a real car
Index movements are easier to read against actual cars. Taking four Audi A4s of different ages and applying normal age-related depreciation gives an expected value a year on, which can then be compared with what the car actually fetched. A 2010 A4 worth €3,654 in July 2025 would have been expected to fall to €3,210 by July 2026. It actually held €3,458, roughly 8% above expectation, and cost its owner just €196 over the year. A 2022 A4 worth €37,255 was expected to settle at €32,586 and came in at €32,610, almost exactly in line, but that still represents €4,645 of value gone in twelve months.
Brexit’s lasting legacy: Japan now supplies more than half of Ireland’s used imports
Import volumes have risen steeply and would ordinarily be expected to ease supply at the cheaper end of the market. The composition of those imports, however, has changed considerably, with consequences for both affordability and the emissions profile of the national fleet.
Brexit has permanently changed Ireland’s source of used imports. UK supply, which accounted for more than 108,000 vehicles and a 95% share as recently as 2019, fell to 12,847 units and 18% of the total in 2025, and to 8,475 units and 14% in the first half of 2026. Total imports, by contrast, have recovered strongly. Some 71,813 vehicles arrived in 2025, and the first six months of 2026 alone accounted for 59,895, a pace that would comfortably surpass any year since 2020. The volume lost to tariffs and VAT has been replaced from elsewhere.
Japan has become the primary new source. Japanese imports numbered just over 5,000 in 2019, a 4.6% share. By 2025 they had reached 36,043 and half of the total market, and in the first half of 2026 they accounted for 33,065 vehicles and 55%. The composition of that trade is the more remarkable detail. European marques, overwhelmingly German premium models sold new into Japan and now re-exported to Ireland, made up 63% of Japanese-sourced imports in 2025, easing to 59% in the first half of 2026. Volkswagen alone accounted for 10,996 cars imported from Japan in 2025, almost twice as many as Toyota on 6,209, making a German brand the single largest make arriving from Japan.
Cleaner British imports, far more Japanese ones, and almost no change in emissions
The emissions consequences of this substitution deserve attention. Because VRT is banded on CO₂, the duty and VAT burden on UK stock is only worth absorbing at the cleanest end of the range, and the surviving UK trade reflects that precisely. Diesel has fallen from 47% of UK imports in 2023 to 18%, electric and plug-in hybrid together now account for 63%, and average emissions have dropped from 91g to 65g CO₂/km.
Japanese supply carries no such filter. Petrol and hybrid still make up 84% of arrivals, battery electric is effectively absent at 0.5%, and average emissions have moved only from 131g to 126g CO₂/km. Weighting the two streams by volume, the average imported car emitted 115g CO₂/km in 2023 and 114g in the first half of 2026. Ireland is importing much cleaner British cars and far more Japanese ones, and the two effects have almost exactly offset.