Nearly 392,000 cars on Malta’s roads in June, up more than 3% in past year

The number of cars on Maltese roads reached 391,914 by June this year, denoting an increase of 3.3% over the same period in 2018.

Out of this total, 77.6% of vehicles were passenger cars, 13.6% were commercial vehicles and 7.6% were motorcycles or quadricycles.

Buses and minibuses amounted to less than one percent.

The figures, which were published on Friday by the National Statistics Office, also indicate that between April and June 2019, 7,439 newly licensed vehicles were put on the road, the majority of which - 70.0%, or 5,272 - being passenger cars.

The second most commonly licensed vehicles in the second quarter of this year were motorcycles, accounting for 15% or 1,116 of new road licenses.

(Source: National Statistics Office)

Between April and June this year, used motor vehicles represented the majority of newly licensed cars, with 50.7% of the total, while new cars amounted to 49.3%.

Petrol trumps diesel, electric/hybrid still far behind

As at the end of June this year, 234,822 vehicles or 59.9% of the total had petrol-powered engines.

Diesel-powered vehicles reached 152,266 or 38.9% of the total, while electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 0.8% of the entire stock, with a total of 3,280 vehicles

During 2019’s second quarter, 7,503 vehicles were taken off the roads due to a restriction, with 34.3% of these having been put up for resale, 32.4% being scrapped, and 31.1% garaged.

Vehicles that had their restriction end during this quarter totalled 4,170, with 60% having been resold and 39.1% garaged.