Only a third of the newly licensed vehicles last year were new cars, the National Statistics Office said.

In a statement, the NSO said that the stock of licensed motor vehicles at the end of last year stood at 311,947. 76.9 per cent were private vehicles and 15.5 per cent commercial.

New licences issued during the period under review amounted to 4,416.

Private vehicles accounted for 3,556 new licences, or 80.5 per cent of the total. The majority of new licences (1,082) were issued to private vehicles under 1300cc, followed by vehicles between 1801-2000cc (745).

Newly-licensed 'new' motor vehicles amounted to 1,471, or 33.3 per cent of the total, while newly licensed 'used' motor vehicles totalled 2,945.

In the fourth quarter last year, 35 vehicles were exported and 2,606 were garaged. Private vehicles accounted for 49 per cent of the total vehicles garaged.

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