The number of new cars licensed in February increased by 20.3 per cent on the same period last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The CSO said there were 24,153 new private cars licensed last month, up from 20,074 in February last year.
First licensing of second-hand private cars increased by 1,380 or 104 per cent on the same month last year.
The number of new goods vehicles licensed was 4,460 in February, 2005 compared with 3,297 in the corresponding month last year, an increase of 35.3 per cent.
The total number of all new vehicles licensed during February was 30,090 compared with 24,679 during the same month in 2004 - an increase of 21.9 per cent.
Toyota was the most popular brand of car licensed, with 3,444 vehicles sold in February.
This was followed by Ford (2,856), Nissan (1,942), Volkswagen (1,803), Opel (1,628) and Renault (1,537)