New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the number of new car sales rose by 15.8% in June compared to the same time last year.
Today's figures show that a total of 3,924 new private cars were licensed in June, up from 3,390 the same month last year.
For the first six months of the year, new car sales rose by 26.3% to 78,660 compared to 62,280 in the first half of last year.
The CSO figures also show that a total of 3,765 imported, or used, cars were licensed in June, down 16.4% on the same month in 2014.
But there was a 68% increase in the number of new good vehicles licensed last month to bring the total to 1,850.
Volkswagen was the most popular brand of new car sold in the first half of the year, with 10,049 models sold. It was followed by Toyota (8,353), Ford (7,720), Nissan (7,126) and Hyundai (6,970).
Seven out of every ten cars sold in the first six months of the year were diesel.
