New UK Car Sales DOWN in 2017 – but they’re still impressive

New car sales in the UK fell in 2017 by 5.7% – and diesel sales by 17.1% – although sales were still 2.5 million and the third best sales figures in the last decade.

To no one’s great surprise, new car sales in the UK have fallen in 2017, although the drop of 5.7 per cent on 2016 still saw around 2.5 million cars sold – the third best sales figures in the last decade.

The figures have been released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) which says the drop can be attributed to confusing ant-diesel messages and a lack of confidence in the economy.

But although SMMT blame confusion over government plans for diesel taxation, it seems clear the backlash against diesel really stems from the VW Dieselgate scandal which was revealed in 2015.

Although the SMMT, rightly, claim that new diesels have very low NOx emissions, buyers are aware that tests done in a lab don’t mean real world emissions are the same, and until the new real world emissions testing regime comes in that’s going to remain.

One side effect of the shift away from diesels – diesel sales dropped by 17.1 per cent – is that average CO2 emissions actually increased by 0.8 per cent as buyers shifted away from diesel-engine cars – the first increase in 20 years. Although that’s a figure reached by using a formula based on mpg in official tests, not in the real world.

As diesel sales fall, sales of alternatively fuelled vehicles (AFV) increased dramatically – by 34.8 per cent – although that still only means 120k sold (BEV, Hybrid, Plug-in and Fuel Cell) of which a small proportion (13.5k) were pure BEVs.

The SMMT predict new car sales will continue to fall in 2018, probably between 5 and 7 per cent.