Vehicle registrations rose by 8.4% in 2025 in Tamil Nadu

The total number of vehicles registered in Tamil Nadu in 2025 recorded an increase of nearly 8.4% compared with the previous year. As the adoption of electric vehicles is gaining momentum among road users, registrations of electric vehicles also recorded a significant increase last year.

A perusal of data available on the Vahan dashboard of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) showed nearly 21.18 lakh vehicles were registered last year across 147 Regional Transport Offices (RTOs) and Unit Offices (UOs) spread over 38 districts in the State.

Vehicle registrations were, as usual, higher in urban areas. RTO/UO-wise data showed more than 50,000 vehicles were registered in Tambaram and Poonamallee, while more than 35,000 registrations were recorded in Red Hills, Chennai (North), Sholinganallur and Coimbatore (North).

More than 40% of the total registrations were concentrated in Chennai, Chengalpattu, Coimbatore, Tiruvallur, Madurai and Salem districts. At 11 RTOs/UOs, mostly in rural areas, fewer than 5,000 vehicles were registered.

Of the total vehicles registered, close to 16.4 lakh were two-wheelers, while nearly 4.2 lakh were light, medium and heavy motor vehicles of different categories such as passenger, motor and goods vehicles.

As far as fuel type was concerned, petrol vehicles continued to dominate registrations, accounting for close to 75% of the total, as most two-wheelers fall under this segment. Petrol vehicle registrations rose to nearly 17.46 lakh in 2025 from 15.54 lakh in 2024. Diesel vehicle registrations also saw a marginal increase.

The registration of electric vehicles recorded a significant increase from 1.35 lakh in 2024 to 1.74 lakh in 2025, majorly driven by two-wheelers. The adoption of electric vehicles by road users is likely to increase further, as the State government had recently extended the 100% road tax exemption granted for electric vehicles in both transport and non-transport segments by two more years, until 2027.

The State government had released the Tamil Nadu Electric Vehicle Policy in 2019 and granted road tax exemption for three years, which was later extended.