The number of cars on the road has gone up slightly with the stock of licensed motor vehicles reaching 349,386 at the end of last March.

This was 0.7 per cent more than the previous quarter, according to the National Statistics Office.

The NSO said 79.3 per cent were passenger cars, 13.7 per cent commercial vehicles and six per cent motorcycles. Buses and minibuses accounted for less than one per cent.

A total 5,892 licences were issued in the first quarter, including 4,483 for passenger cars. A total of 858 licences were issued for motorbikes.

Newly-licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 3,002, or 51 per cent of the total, and newly-licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 2,890.

A total 110 vehicles were exported during this period. A total 1,872 vehicles were garaged and another 2,604 were garaged for resale purposes. Scrapped vehicles totalled 9,457.

As at the end of March, 212,098 vehicles, or 60.7 per cent of the total, had petrol engines. Vehicles with diesel engines amounted to 135,676, or 38.8 per cent of the total.

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