There are almost 113,000 private cars aged between 10 and 20 years and another 45,000 that are older than that, official statistics show.

Figures released by the National Statistics Office yesterday showed that cars aged 10 years and more made up two-thirds of all private vehicles in 2014.

A quarter of private cars are aged between five and 10 years.

The latest NSO transport statistics showed that 79 per cent of all licensed vehicles were private cars.

There were just 87 electric passenger cars

Commercial vehicles made up the second largest segment. There were almost 43,000 licensed commercial vehicles in 2014, of which 17,000 (40 per cent) were more than 20 years old.

On the flip side, the rejuvenation of the bus fleet since the public transport reform of 2011 has pushed down the age of route buses.

At the end of 2014 there were 284 route buses and 81 per cent of them were less than five years old.

While 69 per cent of private cars ran on petrol, the vast majority of commercial vehicles were powered by diesel. The NSO said there were just 87 electric passenger cars, a figure which seems to have prompted the Budget incentive for motorists to scrap their 10-year-old cars and replace them with new electric vehicles.

Only two private cars ran on liquefied petroleum gas – LPG found in household gas cylinders.