Cyprus car regs soar in December

December saw the full impact of the large cut in excise duties in November, as registrations of motor vehicles rose by 17.1% compared with December 2005, following a 6.2% rise in November.

Prior to that, motor vehicle registrations had fallen for three straight months, as rumours began to circulate in summer that car excise duties would be cut.

For 2006 as a whole, therefore, motor vehicle registrations were down slightly, by 0.7% on the previous year.

This fall was mainly concentrated in saloon cars, as sales of light goods vehicles rose by 15.3% in 2006, after three years of falls.