Over 7,100 new cars licensed in 2009

Over 7,100 new cars were licensed in Malta last year, when the total number of vehicles stood at 300,347.

Data released by the National Statistics Office shows that 4,015 cars, or 1.33 per cent of the total, were scrapped in 2009. A further 11,436 vehicles were garaged, meaning they were no longer licensed for use on the road.

In the period under review, 18,813 vehicles were newly licensed, 7,133 of them being new cars. This represented a 43.7 per cent increase in the number of newly-licensed cars when compared to 2008.

The number of vehicles on Maltese roads rose by 5,689 between the end of 2008 and the end of last year even if 15,542 vehicles were taken off the road by being garaged, exported or scrapped.Of the total number of cars in Malta, 76.3 per cent are private and the remaining commercial vehicles.