New diesel only car registrations in UK drop to 10%

London (Quantum Commodity Intelligence) - Buyers returned to showrooms in April to buy new cars in the UK, but shunned diesel only cars in favour of gasoline and plug-in electric and hybrids, data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers (SMMT) show.

Some 141,583 new cars were registered last month, down 12.9% on the ten-year average for April.

Just 14,012 of the new cars were diesel only, around 10% of the total.

However, the figure was boosted by sales of mild hybrid diesel cars, with 9,335 registrations, bringing total diesel car sales to 16.5% of the total.

Gasoline only cars accounted for around 50% of sales, with 71,173 registrations, and there was also 16,518 new sales of mild hybrid car gasoline cars, to bring total demand to 62% of the total.

Meanwhile, buyers continued to embrace the green industrial revolution, with 30,545 registrations for electric cars, plug in hybrids, and hybrid electric vehicles.

While both plug in hybrids and hybrids will still use road fuel, there was healthy demand for battery only vehicles, despite changes in March to the Plug-in Car Grant.

Dealerships saw 9,152 new registrations, 6.5% of total sales.

Battery electric vehicles are forecast to account for 8.9% of total new car registrations in the UK by the year-end by SMMT.

Plug in hybrids, which only draw from the fuel tank when the battery runs out, saw 9,600 registrations in April, some 6.8% of the total, and are expected to account for 6.3% of total new car sales by the year end.