The licensing of new cars in Ireland jumped 8.2 per cent in September, figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
There were 7,390 new private cars licensed in September last, compared with 6,830 in September, 2003.
In the first nine months of the year, there were 138,071 new private cars licensed, an increase of 5.5 per cent on the corresponding period last year.
The number of new goods vehicles licensed increased by 411 (19.9 per cent) in September when compared with September last year.
From January to September, the total number of all vehicles licensed was 204,656 compared with 191,230 in the same period last year, an increase of 7 per cent.
The most popular cars, based on licensing numbers were Toyota (992), Volkswagen (730), Ford (631), Renault (546), Peugeot (529) and Nissan (493).