Rita Raudjärv of Statistics Estonia said: "When comparing monthly data, car sales began to grow rapidly in the second half of 2024, doubling the level recorded in the same month of the previous year."

In December 2024, a total of 7,046 passenger cars were registered for the first time, compared with 3,394 in December 2023, Statistics Estonia reported.

Through the whole of 2024, a total of 50,424 passenger cars were purchased in Estonia, a 7 percent rise on 2023's figure.

25,746 cars were bought new, while just over a thousand fewer, 24,678, were used cars, the agency reported.

Meanwhile, compared with 2023, the Transport Administration last year registered a rise in new passenger vehicles of 12 percent, while the figure for used cars was much lower, at 1.5 percent up.

One of the key factors driving this rise was the anticipated introduction of the car tax, which led to a notable spike in sales at the end of the year.

Raudjärv highlighted that car sales surged significantly at the end of 2024 ahead of the introduction of the car tax, followed by a decline in January 2025.

In the first month of this year, just 1,036 car sales took place, split roughly 50:50 between new and used.

Despite the fluctuations of recent years, overall annual car sales have remained relatively stable.

The figure for the past four years stands at around 50,000 passenger cars purchased annually; while last year saw slightly more new car registrations, overall over the four years, used car sales outstripped new ones.

Vehicle sales have been significantly impacted by various crises in the 2020s so far, starting with the Covid pandemic, followed by a semiconductor shortage which led to a lack of essential electronics for new vehicle production, which in turn drove up demand for used cars.

Rising leasing interest rates, inflation affecting household budgets, and the changed security situation have all also impacted car sales in recent years.

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