There was a small increase in the number of new cars licensed last month compared to June 2013.

3,390 cars were sold in June, up 2.9% on the previous year. But used cars proved more popular last month - up 7.6% to 4,502 for the same period.

In total, there were 62,280 new private cars licensed in the year to the end of June 2014. This represents a rise of 25.8% compared to the same period in 2013.

The corresponding figure for 2014 in respect of used cars was 27,601 and this was up 16.5% from 2013.

Commercial vehicles increased by 47.8% year on year with 1,101 sold in June.

The highest number of new private cars licensed in June 2014, by make, was Volkswagen (515) followed by Ford (325), Toyota (296) and Renault (249).

For the year to the end of June, Volkswagen also ranked highest with 7,558 for new private cars. This was followed by Toyota (6,775), Ford (6,133) and Hyundai (5,084).

Newstalk's business editor Ian Guider told Lunchtime these numbers were a pleasant surprise.