When it was announced, on Budget Day, it was presented as a €2,000 scheme for 2,000 cars.

Six months into the year, the 2,000 cars limit aimed for was reached, but the money earmarked by the government for the scheme was not all spent.

Instead of saving the money, the government, seeing the advantages of the scheme, has now reopened it to enable another 1,000 cars to be scrapped.

The reason why not all the funds that had been earmarked have been spent is another bit of welcome news for Malta. It means that most of the new cars that were purchased with the help of the scheme were small cars. The way the scheme works is that the amount that a purchaser of a new car gets is relative to the size: you get €2,000 for a large car and maybe some €800 or €900 for a small car.

Another measure of the success of the scheme is that it has enabled a shift in the pattern of new car purchases. Previous to the introduction of the scheme used cars as compared to new cars were in the range of 60% to 40%. This has now been reversed, so Malta is getting more new cars than used cars. Some 9,000 cars have been registered in Malta over the past six months.

The extended car scrappage scheme, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said in a press conference, will extend to a further 1,000 cars and cannot run beyond 15 November.

The life expectancy of cars in the EU is of seven years, Mr Fenech explained, while that of cars in Malta is more in the region of 15 years.

The minister also announced that some time ago the government had committed that vehicles purchased in 2008 and later found to have paid more as registration fees than with the later reform, would get a refund. People had to apply by 31 March 2009. A total of 740 persons applied for the refund which was meant to be given back through car tax refunds over 10 years. The government has now decided to pay what remains to be paid back to the car owners as of 1 July. This will cost government some €1 million.