The total number of new cars licensed in the first eight months of this year has passed the 100,000 mark, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

This is the first time since 2008 that this figure has been reached in any total year, the CSO said.

Today's figures show that 8,572 new cars were licensed for the first time in August, up 38.2% on the same month the previous year.

A total of 108,522 new cars were sold in the first eight months of the year, an increase of 31.5% with the same eight month period last year.

However, the number of used or imported cars was down 11.9% in the first eight months of the year, while used cars were down 14.3% in August to 3,666.

Today's figures also show that the number of new goods vehicles licensed in August rose by 24.3% to 1,927.

Seven out of every ten new cars sold in the eight months from January to August were diesel, while 95.5% were in the A/B CO2 emissions bands.

The CSO said that Volkswagen was the most popular brand of new car sold in August (1,112) followed by Toyota (857), Ford (834), Nissan (766) and Hyundai (631).