Sales of diesel cars declines 15% in Europe due to VW scandal

Europe has been one of the biggest markets of diesel cars in the world. However, according to JATO Dynamics, the new car registrations have dropped of 7.1% and the number of registered diesel cars has gone down to 15% in April, 2017 in Europe.
 

The number of registered diesel cars has gone down to 15% in April, 2017

In April last year, diesel share accounted for one-half of all car sales in Europe. In contrast, by April 2017, sales of diesel cars have been falling to 46%. This means that diesel engines are no longer dominant in the European market in the future.

"While there are several reasons for this shift, all evidence points to the Dieselgate scandal as the start of this decline. Since the scandal, which broke in 2015, the fuel type has suffered major setbacks to its reputation as governments consider new legislation that directly affect diesel car owners – such as plans in the UK for a diesel scrappage scheme.” said Felipe Munoz, Global Automotive Analyst at JATO Dynamics.

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"In tandem with this, the media continues to advise consumers to avoid the fuel type wherever possible. When factoring in the ongoing push for electric/hybrid vehicles, which are particularly prevalent in markets like the UK, it is perhaps no surprise to see this decline in performance from diesel." he added.
 

In April last year, diesel share accounted for one-half of all car sales in Europe

In accordance with the automotive news from JATO Dynamics, individual car brands in Europe were in worrying trends in April of this year. Although, based on the EU sales chart, Volkswagen Golf has returned to the top position, overall sales decreased 28.1%. Meanwhile, Renault Clio and Polo stood in second and third place, but overall sales fell 11.4% and 7.1% respectively.

Nevertheless, the European market still has some highlights, notably the new Citroen C3 - reaching ninth place in the top 10 best-selling European cars with an increase of 48.1%, while Volkswagen Tiguan took fourth place with a 71.6% increase.
 

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The most prominent is the new Peugeot 3008 - the fifth best-selling SUV for sale after it’s improvement from the old MPV. As a result, both PSA and Volkswagen are on a winning streak despite the general weaknesses of the market. Together with that, the VW Group and the PSA accounted four in ten sales in the European market. This clearly means that the customers in Europe are tending to limit the use of diesel vehicles.

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