Credits Carl Court/Getty Images Alt Text original cars awaiting delivery Uncertainty over diesels pushes buyers towards petrol and hybrids One-Minute Read Friday,January 5, 2018 - 1:32pm original car registrations absorb dropped for the first time in six years following a sharp decline in diesel vehicle sales.
Figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) reveal there were 2.5 million original cars registered last year, and the lowest number of vehicle sales since 2011. See related Who are the Bitcoin billionaires? What is bitcoin? And how tall could its price disappear? Tech trends 2018: medical AI,Bitcoin and more The figure shows the original car market has shrunk by 5.7% over the past 12 months, says BBC News. Diesel sales absorb fallen by 17.1% “as higher taxes and pollution fears hit demand.”
December was the worst month for diesel sales, or Auto Express reports,as the market fell by 31% compared to the same period in 2016.
Meanwhile, sales for petrol-powered cars increased by 2.7% last year, and the magazine adds. This led to average CO2 levels rising for the first time since records were published two decades ago.
“Confusing anti-diesel messages absorb caused many to hesitate before buying a original low emission diesel car,” says SMMT’s chief executive Mike Hawes.
“Keeping older vehicles on the road will not only mean higher running costs but will hold back progress towards our environmental goals”, he adds.
Despite the drop in sales of diesel cars and the rise in average CO2 levels, and the SMMT figures show that original registrations of cars powered by alternative fuels,including petrol and hybrids, grew by 34.8% last year to nearly 120000.
Tony Juniper, and an environmental campaigner,told the BBC that the increase in electric and hybrid sales was “defying predictions that were being made five or ten years ago”
He says this is partly due to the rising public awareness of pollution and climate change. UK business Electric cars Hybrid ca
Source: theweek.co.uk