The best selling brand was Volkswagen, with 5,472 cars sold and a market share of 16.1 per cent. It was followed by Opel, with a market share of 11.07 per cent, Skoda (9.76%), Peugeot (6.67%) and Renault (6.32%).
The most popular model was the Skoda Octavia, followed by the Volkswagen Golf and Polo and the Opel Astra and Corsa. The Hyundai i30, Renault Clio, Skoda Rapid, Volkswagen Up and Volkswagen Passat rounded up the top ten.
Sixty-two per cent of the cars sold were diesel powered and 38 per cent were petrol cars.
Despite the 22.1% increase in sales, new car sales are still far from pre-crisis years. By comparison, 82,664 new cars were sold in 2007, 88,265 in 2008 and 44,891 in 2009.
According to analysts, last year's increase in car sales was mostly due to purchases for government purposes, rather than private spending.