Does value-based motor vehicle registration recur?

On arriving in Malta, my wife will import her car, which, I understand, she can register at no cost, as we are establishing our primary residence in Malta.

I, on the other hand, will be buying a vehicle in Malta, and I see that there is a registration requirement that, for some cars, can be several thousand Euros (e.g if the car has entered from UK and does not have current Maltese registration).

I see this simply as being part of the purchase transaction: the buy price + the registration tax + new number plates + annual circulation tax + insurance = the total cost of getting the vehicle on the road. Then I compare that to available alternatives, and negotiate the only negotiable part of the equation, which is the buy price.

As costly as that is, I could live with it, as long as it only happens once. After that, I trust I will only be paying the circulation tax and the insurance on a recurring basis.  But I'm not at all sure about that, as I have seen some cars advertising that they have pre-paid 2 years of registration - which suggests that the valuation-based registration tax may not be a one-off tax.

If anyone can shed some light on that, it might help to clear things up.  Many thanks - and sorry to be asking a dumb question that someone who lives in Malta could no doubt find out easily.