At the end of March 2006, the stock of licensed motor vehicles (all types) stood at 272,848. Of these, 207,451 or 76.0 per cent were private vehicles, while commercial vehicles made up 44,693 or 16.4 per cent, the National Statistics Office reported yesterday.

The stock of self-drive cars decreased by 143 vehicles over the previous quarter and showed also a decrease of 421 vehicles when compared to the same period last year.

New licences

New licences issued during the first quarter of 2006 amounted to 2,853. Private vehicles accounted for 2,049 new licences, or 71.8 per cent of the total. In this quarter, private vehicles falling within class 1 (< 1300cc) registered the highest increase. This class accounted for 1,287 new licences in January-March 2006, while vehicles in class 4 (1501-1800cc) accounted for 218. Compared to the fourth quarter, the total number of newly-licensed motor vehicles registered a significant decrease of 88 or 5.0 per cent. The total number of newly-licensed used motor vehicles also registered a drop of 64 vehicles or 5.1 per cent when compared to the previous period.