More people 'buying diesel cars'

Date: 16/4/2012

Increasing numbers of people are buying diesel and alternatively-fuelled vehicles, new figures have revealed.

The end of 2011 saw the first plug-in hybrid cars begin to emerge, while hybrid electric cars passed the 1,000 mark for the first time, the Department for Transport stated.

Similarly, the proportion of diesel cars registered for the first time was over 50 per cent, compared with 18 per cent in 2001.

"In addition, the introduction of the plug-in car grant saw the number of pure electric car first registrations jump from around 250 in 2010 to 1,200 in 2011," the government noted.

It claimed this is a trend that is likely to continue in 2012, as diesel motors now account for 31 per cent of all licensed cars.

These figures support those recently released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, which revealed diesel registrations grew by 4.9 per cent in February compared with the previous month, meaning the vehicles took a 53.9 per cent share of the market.

Posted by Nick Anderson