Of these, 203,972 or 75.2 per cent were private vehicles while commercial vehicles made up 44,562 or 16.4 per cent.

The number of self-drive cars increased by 90 vehicles over the previous quarter and showed a decrease of 1.2 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

New licences issued during the third quarter of 2004 amounted to 3,211. Private vehicles accounted for 2,232 new licences or 69.5 per cent of the total. In this quarter, private vehicles falling within class 1 (< 1300 cc) registered the highest increase. This class accounted for 1,261 new licences in July-September 2004, while vehicles in class 2 (1301-1449 cc) accounted for 350.

Compared to the second quarter, the total number of newly licensed motor vehicles registered a significant decrease of 99 or 5.0 per cent. The total number of newly licensed used motor vehicles registered a sizeable increase of 104 vehicles of 8.5 per cent when compared with the previous period.