The number of licensed vehicles surpassed 300,000 at the end of June, with some 2,800 brand new ones and even more used vehicles – 5,145 – being licensed in the first half of this year.

The National Statistics Office said there were 301,605 licensed vehicles, 3,829 more than at the end of last year.

Some 76.4 per cent of all vehicles were privately owned while 15.7 per cent were commercial. The remaining 7.9 per cent consisted of rental cars, motorcycles and scooters for hire and taxis.

Some 2,244 cars were scrapped and another 57 were exported in the first six months of the year. A further 4,586 were garaged, meaning they were stored and no longer licensed for road use.

Most newly registered cars had engines smaller than 1.3 litres.

The cost of cars in Malta has dropped by more than nine per cent in the past two years, with the most significant fall registered last year, according to a recent European Commission report. While prices in the eurozone fell by 2.1 per cent in the last two years, in Malta they were down by 9.2 per cent.

This drop is believed to be the result of the new car registration tax regime, which introduced a taxation mechanism based on environment friendly indicators, particularly on engine capacity and emissions.