Over 382,000 licensed vehicles by end of September - NSO

At the end of September 2018, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 382,605, an increase of 3.6 per cent over the same quarter in 2017, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said yesterday.

Administrative data obtained from Transport Malta shows that at the end of September, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 382,605.

Of this total, 78 per cent were passenger cars, 13.6 per cent were commercial vehicles, 7.3 per cent were motorcycles/quadricycles and All Terrain Vehicle’s (ATV), while buses and minibuses amounted to less than one per cent.

During this quarter, the stock of licensed vehicles increased at a net average rate of 36 vehicles per day.

Newly licensed vehicles put on the road during the period under review amounted to 6,488. The majority of the newly licensed vehicles, 4,632, or 71.4 per cent, were passenger cars, followed by motorcycles/e-bicycles with 958, or 14.8 per cent. Newly licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 2,897, or 44.7 per cent, of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,591, or 55.3 per cent.

An average of 71 vehicles a day were newly licensed during the quarter under review.

During the third quarter of this year, 6,906 vehicles were taken off the road due to a restriction. Of these, 36.6 per cent were put up for resale, 31.3 per cent were scrapped, while garaged vehicles amounted to 29.8 per cent. Vehicles that had their restriction ending during the same quarter totalled 3,716.

The majority was recorded as being for resale (66.7 per cent) or garaged (32.8 per cent).

As at the end of September this year, 230,355 vehicles, or 60.2 per cent, were petrol powered engines.

Diesel powered vehicles reached 148,894, or 38.9 per cent, of the total. Electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 0.5 per cent of the entire stock, totalling 1,917, an increase of 17.2 per cent over the previous quarter.