The number of passenger cars on Czech roads increased by more than 85,000 vehicles to 6.8 million in the first half of this year. Their average age has risen to 16.56 years, according to data from the Association of Automobile Importers. The association predicts the number of vehicles will continue to grow.

According to the Czech Statistical Office, the Czech Republic ranks fourth among EU countries in terms of cars per capita. However, when it comes to the age of its vehicle fleet, the country has the second oldest in the EU.

Josef Pokorný, Secretary of the Association of Automobile Importers, notes that the increase in the number of automobiles over the past decade is around 1.75 million. “There is still room for further growth, as monthly additions of new registrations continue to exceed the number of vehicles being decommissioned,” Pokorný stated.

Future growth will be influenced by several factors, including parking capacity and costs in cities, expenses for maintaining older vehicles, and stronger enforcement of legal obligations related to vehicle technical condition, insurance, and parking on public roads.

In the first half of the year, over 122,000 new cars were sold in the Czech Republic, with an additional 72,000 used vehicles imported from abroad. Conversely, approximately 38,000 cars of various ages were exported from the Czech Republic, and 81,000 vehicles were deregistered, most ending up in junkyards.