Data released by ACEA shows that Q1 sales of diesel engine passenger cars (1,574,333 units) in the European Union declined by 17% on last year’s pace. Diesel sales are continuing to fall across the region amid uncertainty concerning future regulatory regimes in the wake of adverse publicity for diesel related to toxic emission levels and VW’s dieselgate affair. Many diesel car owners are either holding off on replacing their cars, or switching to petrol models.
Share of the car market accounted for by diesel in the first quarter was 37.9%. Petrol cars accounted for 55.5% of the market, making it the most sold fuel type. Alternatively-powered vehicles accounted for 6.5% of EU car sales in Q1 2018, with electrically-chargeable vehicles making up 1.7% of all cars sold.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Demand for new petrol cars grew significantly (+14.6%) from January to March, with petrol sales totalling 2,303,129 units – roughly 300,000 more than last year.
Alternatively-powered vehicles (APV)
In the first quarter of 2018, EU demand for alternatively-powered vehicles grew by +26.9%. Registrations of battery electric (+34.3%) and plug-in hybrid electric cars (+60.2%) accounted for the strongest growth – in total, 69,898 electrically-chargeable cars were registered from January to March 2018 (+47.0%). At the same time, 139,556 hybrid electric vehicles were sold in the EU, 25.7% more than in the first quarter of 2017.
The market for NGV, LPG and E85 cars also started the year strongly; demand increased by 12.0%.
