Diesel sales to be overtaken by plug-ins by 2019

A pair of Zipcar club car-sharing Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in petrol-electric hybrid cars being recharged on a street in central London.
A pair of Zipcar club car-sharing Volkswagen Golf GTE plug-in petrol-electric hybrid cars being recharged on a street in central London.

A report by an independent think tank has suggested that sales of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles may overtake those of diesel as soon as 2019. The Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit analysed sales figures to produce the date, which is based on rapidly declining diesel sales – and a large uptake in alternatively fuelled plug-in vehicles.

Sales of diesel vehicles in October fell by 29.9 per cent compared with the same month last year. It's the seventh month in a row that diesel sales have dropped, and the largest decline in nine years.

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