Average of 52 newlylicensed cars per day in first quarter – NSO

At the end of March, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 426,720, the National Statistics Office said. Out of this total, 74.5% were passenger cars, 12.4% were goods-carrying vehicles and 12.3% were motorcycles/Ebikes/PA-bikes, special purpose vehicles, E-kick scooters, agricultural vehicles and minibuses. Road tractors, quadricycles, All-Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) and buses amounted to less than 1%. During the quarter under review, the stock of licensed motor vehicles increased at a net average rate of 20 motor vehicles per day.

Newly licensed motor vehicles

Newly licensed motor vehicles put on the road during the period under review amounted to 4,704. The majority of newly licensed motor vehicles, 3,039 or 64.6% of the total, were passenger cars, followed by motorcycles/PAbikes/E-bikes with 804 or 17.1%. Newly licensed “new” motor vehicles amounted to 2,778 or 59.1% of the total, whereas newly licensed “used” motor vehicles totalled 1,926 or 40.9%. An average of 52 motor vehicles per day were newly licensed during the quarter under review.

Motor vehicles under restriction

During the first quarter of 2023, 6,329 motor vehicles were taken off the road due to restrictions. Out of these, 39.1% were garaged, 36.4% were resold, while 22.4% were scrapped. Motor vehicles that had their restriction ending during the quarter under review totalled 3,760. The majority were recorded as being resold (55.6%) or garaged (43.4%).

Motor energy type

As at the end of March, 250,079 motor vehicles or 58.6% of the total had petrol-powered engines. Diesel-powered motor vehicles reached 155,929 or 36.5% of the total. Electric and plug-in hybrid motor vehicles accounted for 2.9% of the entire stock, with a total of 12,411 motor vehicles. When compared to the previous quarter, increases of 43.5%, 15.4% and 10.6% were registered in combined (dieselLPG), plug-in hybrid (diesel-electric) and plugin hybrid (petrol-electric) motor vehicles respectively.