New car sales suffer biggest decline since 2009

Sales of new cars in the UK have fallen by 5.7 per cent in 2017, in the sharpest decline in eight years. Official figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders shows that even a rise in registrations of petrol and hybrid vehicles could not offset a massive drop in diesel registrations.

Sales of petrol cars increased by 2.7 per cent in 2017, while alternatively-fuelled vehicles (including hybrid, plug-in hybrid and pure electric) saw a massive rise of 34.8 per cent. But diesel really suffered, with a 17.1 per cent drop leaving the fuel with just a 42 per cent share of the UK market.