9:05 am, October 8, 2015
THE proportion of diesel engined cars being bought by British motorists has sunk to its lowest level in over two years, as the effects of the emissions scandal take hold.
Although it has barely been a month since the Volkswagen revelations hit the news, official sales figures for September suggest that it was enough to put some off opting for diesel vehicles, the Daily Telegraph reported.
The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders has released its new car registrations data for September, showing that diesel’s market share was 45.9 per cent, a drop of three per cent since August and down two compared to this time last year.
At the same time, the number of people buying petrol-powered cars rose 2.7 per cent since August, to 51.4. Sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles has also crept up, from 2.4 to 2.6 per cent in September.
Overall, registrations of diesel and petrol cars in September grew 4.1 percent and 12.3 per cent respectively. A total of 462,517 were registered in September to take advantage of the 65-plate, the month’s highest-ever figure, and the 43rd consecutive month of market growth, the SMMT reported.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of SMMT, told the Telegraph: ‘It is too early to say how VW’s troubles affected sales, it only started 10 days before the end of the month and many of September’s sales are made months in advance. October’s figures will show how big an issue the VW story will be for consumers with it having been a full month since it happened.
‘However, the market is still strong and although there is a lot of interest in VW’s problems it is wrong for that to spread to other companies in the industry. VW has admitted it cheated and is paying a heavy price…it saw that the trust it had established with consumers over years can be lost in a day.’
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