The number of vehicles registered in the first quarter of this year grew by over 30 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

In just three months, 4,264 vehicles were registered compared to 3,276 between January and March last year, an increase of over 300 cars a month.

The data, provided by the National Statistics Office, shows that the lion's share of the increase consisted in imported used vehicles, which saw a surge during this period.

While the number of new vehicles on the road rose by an average of 26 per cent that for used vehicles shot up by 46 per cent: from 1,028 cars in the first quarter of 2008 to 1,864 in the same period this year.

Similarly, the number of used imported commercial vehicles increased by some 13 per cent and new vehicles in the same category plunged by 80 per cent. The statistics do not explain this but an analyst said the reason was likely to stem from a recent trend for people to import second-hand cars from Europe, particularly the UK market.

These sort of imports were facilitated by the falling sterling and the new car registration regime, which came into force this year and which imposes taxes according to emissions.