Volkswagen remained the most popular make of new car sold in October, despite the company's admission in September that it cheated on diesel-emissions tests in the US.
New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that a total of 473 new VW cars were sold last month, followed by Ford (396), BMW (283), Opel (280) and Skoda (278).
A total of 3,943 new private cars were licensed in October, up 27.9% on the same time last year, the CSO figures show.
In the first ten months of the year, 118,389 new cars were licensed, an increase of 31.6% on the same time last year.
Today's figures also reveal an 11% increase in the number of new goods vehicles sold last month, bring the total to 1,629. Sales of goods vehicles can be taken as a sign of a growing economy.
They also show that a total of 4,025 used, or imported, cars were sold last month, down 6.8% on October of last year.
In the first ten months of the year, more than seven out of every 10 new private cars sold were diesel.
