Sales were up 18.2 percent in December from a year earlier, the fourth straight month of increases and after a 15.1 percent year-on-year rise in November.

Some 60,513 new cars were registered in December after 51,197 in December 2012 while 2013 saw some 722,703 new cars registered after 699,589 a year earlier. Car sales had dropped 13.4 percent in 2012.

(Reporting by Paul Day; Editing by Elizabeth O'Leary)