Latest figures on car registrations show a 12 percent increase to today compared to the same period last year.
That's against a 63 percent drop in 2009 sales compared to 2008 in the same selling period.
And the registrations, compiled by Motorcheck.ie, also show a 40 percent cut in registration of imports this year.
Meantime, new commercial vehicle registrations are also up, by 14 percent.