At the end of March 2023, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 426,720, the National Statistics Office said. Out of this total, 74.5 per cent were passenger cars, 12.4 per cent were goods-carrying vehicles and 12.3 per cent were motorcycles/E-bikes/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 one per cent. 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 per cent of the total, were passenger cars, followed by motorcycles/PA-bikes/E-bikes with 804 or 17.1 per cent. Newly licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 2,778 or 59.1 per cent of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 1,926 or 40.9 per cent. 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 per cent were garaged, 36.4 per cent were resold, while 22.4 per cent 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 per cent) or garaged (43.4 per cent).
Motor energy type
As at the end of March 2023, 250,079 motor vehicles or 58.6 per cent of the total had petrol-powered engines. Diesel-powered motor vehicles reached 155,929 or 36.5 per cent of the total. Electric and plug-in hybrid motor vehicles accounted for 2.9 per cent of the entire stock, with a total of 12,411 motor vehicles. When compared to the previous quarter, increases of 43.5 per cent, 15.4 per cent and 10.6 per cent were registered in combined (diesel-LPG), plug-in hybrid (diesel-electric) and plug-in hybrid (petrol-electric) motor vehicles respectively.