Imports of high-powered cars rise

695 private vehicles with an engine capacity of between 1801 and 2000cc were licensed in the first three months of this year, the highest figure since the second quarter of 2009, figures issued today by the NSO show.

That number was second only to the cars with an engine capacity of under 1300, with 1,364 such vehicles having been licensed in the first three months of this year.

In all, there were  305,771 motor vehicles on Malta's roads at the end of the first quarter of this year, with 4,476 new licences having been issued, most of them for imported used cars, the NSO said.

It said that 76.7 per cent of the motor vehicles on the road were private vehicles, while commercial vehicles accounted for 15.6 per cent.

Private vehicles accounted for 3,660 new licences, or 81.8 per cent of the total. The majority of new licences
(1,364) were issued to private vehicles within 'Class 1' (<1300 cc), followed by vehicles in 'Class 5' (1801-2000 cc) with 695.

Newly-licensed 'new' motor vehicles amounted to 1,784, or 39.9 per cent of the total, and newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 2,692.

Exported and garaged

In the first quarter of 2011, 27 vehicles were exported. Garaged vehicles amounted to 2,383, of which 67.4 per cent were private vehicles.