The number of licensed motor vehicles rose to 379,338 by the end of June, an increase of 3.8 per cent over the same quarter in 2017, official figures issued on Thursday show.

Just 0.5 per cent of all cars on the roads were electric or hybrid vehicles.

A total of 78.1 per cent were passenger cars, 13.6 per cent were commercial vehicles, 7.2 per cent were motorcycles/quadricycles and All Terrain Vehicles (ATV), while buses and minibuses amounted to less than one per cent.

Between May and June, the number of cars increased by a net average rate of 47 vehicles per day. During the first quarter of 2018, the stock of licensed vehicles had increased at a net average rate of 33 vehicles per day.

New licences issued during the period under review amounted to 7,069. With 5,115 (or 72.4 per cent of total), the majority of new licences were issued for passenger cars.

This was followed by motorcycles/e-bicycles with 999 new licences or 14.1 per cent. Newly-licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 3,197 or 45.2 per cent of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,872 or 54.8 per cent.

Newly-licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 3,197 or 45.2 per cent of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,872 or 54.8 per cent.

An average of 78 vehicles per day were newly licensed during the quarter under review but a total of 7,084 vehicles were taken off the roads. Out of these, 37 per cent were put for resale, 31.9 per cent were scrapped and 28.3 per cent were garaged.

Vehicles that had their restriction ending during the quarter under review totalled 4,249. The majority were recorded as being for resale (2,662) or garaged (1,549).

At the end of June, 228,574 vehicles (or 60.3 per cent of the total) were running on petrol-only engines, while vehicles having diesel-only engines reached 147,738 (or 38.9 per cent of the total).

Electric and hybrid vehicles still accounted for less than 0.5 per cent of the entire stock, with a total of 1,636 vehicles.