UK car sales continue to fall, dragged down by lack of demand for diesels
Car sales have continued to fall in the UK, with latest figures showing a 'substantial decline' for new diesel cars in the wake of the VW emissions scandal.
The number of cars sold in January fell to 163,615, down 6.3 per cent on the same month last year according to new figures from the Society of Motoring Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
While demand for petrol and alternatively powered vehicles was on the rise, it failed to offset a 25 per cent drop in diesel demand.
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: "The ongoing and substantial decline in new diesel car registrations is concerning, particularly since the evidence indicates consumers and businesses are not switching into alternative technologies, but keeping their older cars running.
"Given fleet renewal is the fastest way to improve air quality and reduce CO2, we need government policy to encourage take up of the latest advanced low emission diesels as, for many drivers, they remain the right choice economically and environmentally."
The Ford Fiesta remained the UK's favourite car, selling almost as many as the next placed VW Golf and Ford Focus put together.
There were mixed fortunes for Jaguar Land Rover, the West Midlands-based luxury carmaker which makes its diesel and petrol engines at its £1bn plan on the i54 site in Wolverhampton. While Land Rover sales in the UK were up just over four per cent to 5,660 cars in January – probably due to the launch of the new Range Rover Velar – its Jaguar sister brand slumped by almost a fifth, down 19 per cent to 2,174.
Nationwide, demand for cars fell across the board, with registrations by business, private and fleet buyers down 29.7 per cent, 9.5 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.
SUVs were the only vehicle segment to see growth, now accounting for a fifth of all new car registrations.
The SMMT has sought to show the importance of diesel cars and engines to the UK economy. Last year, more than two in five of the cars leaving British production lines were diesels, while manufacturers also produced more than a million engines – directly supporting some 3,350 jobs and, combined with the UK’s petrol engine output, delivering some £8.5 billion to the economy.
The biggest single engine producer was the Jaguar Land Rover plant in Wolverhampton, which made more than 300,000 diesel and petrol engines in 2017.
