Vehicle sales jumped 28% in May

In May, the total registrations of motor vehicles rose 28.2% annually, although, for the first five months of the year, the trend was downward.

According to the Statistical Service on Wednesday, registrations from January-May compared to the same period of 2021 decreased by 6.5%.

In May, motor vehicle registrations reached 3,671, recording an increase of 28.2% from 2,863 in May 2021.

Passenger saloon cars registered a rise of 34.9% to 2,882, from 2,137 last year – the biggest monthly jump this year.

But for the five months to May, yearly motor vehicle registrations dipped 6.5% to 14,353, from 15,352.

At the same time, passenger saloon cars decreased by a lesser 2.3% to 11,513 from 11,785 in January-May 2021.

Most saloon cars were secondhand (55.6%), 6,405 compared to 5,108 or 44.4% bought new.

Motor coaches and buses registered in January-May increased to 47, from 26.

Goods conveyance vehicles decreased by 14.9% to 1,548 in January-May from 1,820 in 2021.

Light goods vehicles decreased by 7.9% to 1,256, heavy goods vehicles by 34.5% to 148, road tractors (units of trailers) by 70.4% to 29 and rental vehicles by 12.9% to 115.

Mopeds under 50cc registered decreased to 126 from 128 in the same 5-month period last year, while bikes over 50cc fell 31.1% to 979 from 1,421.

In 2021 car sales fell to their lowest level since 2015, recording a decrease for the third consecutive year.

The decrease in 2021 was 12.8% from 18.4% in 2020.