New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that new car sales rose by 30.1% in the first quarter of the year.
The CSO said that a total of 68,375 new private cars were licensed in the first three months of the year compared to a figure of 52,543 the same time last year.
The number of used or imported cars also increased in the first quarter, rising by 8.2%.
In March, the number of new cars licensed rose by 17.8% to 20,096. A total of 5,276 used cars were also licensed, up 17.5% on the same month last year.
Volkswagen was the most popular make of new car sold last month, with 2,456 new VWs leaving forecourts despite the company's ongoing difficulties over its cheating of emissions tests.
Toyota had the second highest sales at 2,030, followed by Hyundai (2,009), Nissan (1,921) and Ford (1,507).
Today's CSO figures also reveal a 14.3% increase in the number of new goods vehicles licensed last month to bring the total to 2,847.
Seven out of every ten cars licensed in March ran on diesel.
