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Cyprus Saloon Car Registrations Surge In May Amidst Market Adjustments

Sharp Increase In May Registrations

Cyprus experienced a significant upsurge in saloon passenger car registrations in May 2025, with figures reaching 3,715—a robust 11.7% increase compared to May 2024. This marks a notable rebound from April’s 2,924 units, as reported by the Cyprus Statistical Service (Cystat).

First Five Months Reveal Mixed Trends

Over the first five months of 2025, overall registrations for saloon passenger cars declined by 5.5%, totaling 16,224 units relative to 17,176 during the same period last year. Of these, new vehicles numbered 6,874 (42.4%), while 9,350 registrations, or 57.6%, were for used cars.

Fuel Type Composition And Brand Leadership

Petrol and hybrid vehicles have maintained nearly equal market shares, accounting for 43.7% and 42.9% of registrations, respectively, as consumers continue to prioritize efficiency and performance. Electric vehicles further edged their market share to 4.7%, up from 3.4% from the previous year, even as diesel-powered cars fell to 8.8% from 10%.

Dominance In The Private Sector And Brand Rankings

Out of the 16,224 saloon vehicles registered from January to May 2025, a significant 13,927 were classified as private. Toyota led overall with 2,784 registrations, followed by Mazda at 1,687. Other prominent brands included Nissan (1,240), Kia (976), and BMW (953), while additional key players such as Mercedes (875), Volkswagen (666), Hyundai (560), Honda (531), and Audi (394) maintained strong market positions.

New Versus Used: Consumer Preferences

When distinguishing new car registrations, Kia emerged as the market leader with 949 new entries, trailed by Volkswagen (560), Nissan (525), Hyundai (519), and Toyota (493). The top ten for new models also featured BMW (393), Mercedes (331), Jeep (284), Renault (282), and Audi (243).

Resilience Of The Used Car Market

Used saloon cars sustained their dominance, representing over half of total registrations in the first five months of 2025. Toyota and Mazda led this segment with 2,291 and 1,653 used car registrations, respectively. Nissan, BMW, and Mercedes also registered significant numbers, further cementing the continuing consumer preference for pre-owned vehicles.

This evolving landscape underscores a dynamic market in Cyprus where consumer preferences are driving shifts in fuel efficiency, brand loyalty, and the balance between new and used vehicle acquisitions.

Copyright Law Struggles To Keep Up With AI Training

Courts Are Still Applying Old Copyright Rules To AI

AI companies train models on enormous amounts of published material, including books, articles and academic research. Whether using that content without authors’ permission violates copyright law remains unresolved.

Much of the debate centres on fair use, which allows copyrighted material to be used without permission in certain circumstances. Courts consider factors such as the purpose of the use, how much material was involved and its impact on the original market.

Anthropic Case Sets An Important Precedent

A major case involving Anthropic and a group of authors provided one of the clearest rulings so far. Judge William Alsup found that using copyrighted books to train AI models was lawful, comparing the process to people reading and studying literature before creating something new.

Anthropic was nevertheless ordered to pay $1.5 billion in a settlement. The penalty concerned books the company had obtained from illegal online libraries rather than the AI training itself.

For AI companies, that distinction could prove significant because it separates studying copyrighted material from directly copying it.

Competition Could Be The Key Issue

A case involving Thomson Reuters and Ross Intelligence offers a different perspective. A court ruled that Ross could not claim fair use after using Reuters’ copyrighted material to develop a competing AI-powered legal research platform.

The decision suggests courts may be less willing to consider AI training fair use when copyrighted content is used to build a product that directly competes with the original.

For authors, an unresolved question is whether AI-generated content should be considered competition for the works used to train these models.

The Law Has Yet To Catch Up

US copyright law predates generative AI by decades, leaving courts to apply old principles to new technology. Questions also remain over copyright protection for AI-generated works. In Thaler v. Perlmutter, a court ruled that material created entirely by AI cannot receive copyright protection.

Major AI companies remain involved in copyright litigation, and different courts could reach different conclusions. For now, there is no universal rule: the legality of AI training will depend on the circumstances of each case and how courts ultimately interpret copyright and fair use.

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