Error parsing XSLT file: \xslt\FacebookOpenGraph.xslt Growth in European car sales slows
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Growth in European car sales slows

Date: 29 January 2018   |   Author: Sean Keywood

The European new car market grew by just 3.1% in 2017, held back by a decline in diesel, for which registrations fell by 7.9%.

Petrol sales rose by 10.9%, while alternatively fuelled vehicle registrations rose by 46.1%.

The 3.1% growth in the overall market was down on the 6.5% growth recorded in 2016, and 9.3% growth recorded in 2015.

The UK was one of only five countries where a fall in sales was recorded.

According to the statistics, compiled by JATO Dynamics, there was a 5.7% decline in the UK market, with worse figures recorded only in Ireland, where registrations fell by 10.4%.

Finland, Denmark and Switzerland recorded falls of less than 1%.

At the other end of the scale, Lithuania saw a 27.6% rise in registrations, ahead of Hungary with a 20.2% rise and Croatia with a 17.2% rise.

Volkswagen was Europe's top-selling manufacturer, with 1.69 million registrations, ahead of Renault with 1.14 million and Ford with 1.04 million.

Opel/Vauxhall was fourth with 941,269 and Peugeot fifth with 923,625.

In terms of individual models, the VW Golf came out on top with 483,105 registrations, ahead of the Renault Clio with 327,395 and the VW Polo with 272,061.

The UK's best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta, was fourth in Europe with 254,539 registrations and the Nissan Qashqai was fifth with 247,939.

The best-performing sector of the market was SUVs, which posted a record 4.56 million registrations, a 19.5% increase on the 3.81 million recorded in 2016. According to JATO Dynamics, this boom had an impact on MPV registrations, which decreased by 15.1%.



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