New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of new cars licensed for the first time rose by 17% to 3,257 in September compared to the same time last year.
The CSO figures show that a total of 66,570 new private cars were licensed in the year to September, down 7% on the same time last year.
Today's figures also reveal that the number of imported used cars jumped by almost 60% to 4,735 in the month. The number of used imported private cars for the year to September stood at 37,437 - up 32% on the same time last year.
Of the new cars sold last month, 22.7% were petrol and 75.7% were diesel.
The most popular make of new car licensed in September was Volkswagen, with 476 VW cars sold in the month. This was followed by BMW (321), Toyota (310) and Skoda (265).
