On July 13, 2018, the Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, today also the fourth vice president of the Government, said in the corridors of Congress a phrase that is already in the history of the Spanish automotive industry: "The diesel's days are numbered". Three years later, it seems that the data supports Teresa Ribera's forecast, although she has not died yet, the demand for her is reduced month by month in the passenger car segment.

Diesel cars in Europe

Sales of diesel passenger cars in Europe continue to free fall. During the first quarter of this year, diesel car deliveries fell 20.1% compared to a year ago to reach 593,559 cars sold across the European Union. Diesel now has a market share of 23.2%, compared to 29.9% in the first quarter of 2020.

This drop must also be taken into account in a context in which countries like Spain remained closed for half of March 2020 due to population lockdowns. The downward trend of diesel occurs in the main markets with strong falls such as Germany (-29.4%), and Spain (-28.3%) and to a lesser extent in France (-11.1%) .

For its part, the demand for gasoline passenger cars also continues its downward trend. Sales decreased 16.9% from 1.3 million units sold in the first quarter of 2020 to 1.1 million so far this year. As a result, the share of gasoline in the EU car market dropped from 52.3% in the first quarter of 2020 to 42.2% during the same period in 2021.

By country, with the exception of France (+8.3%), registrations of gasoline vehicles fell in all the main EU markets: Germany (-30.0%), Spain (-25.7% ) and Italy (-4.8%).

On this weeks edition of 'The Gadget Show' our special guest, Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, Angela Rayner, rev… https://t.co/W5e8iDNXb1

— Rob Mon Mar 01 16:56:40 +0000 2021

Electrics go up

During the first three months of the year, electric cars were chosen by 146,185 customers, an increase of 59.1% compared to the same quarter of 2020. According to data from ACEA, the European automobile manufacturers association, the boom is due to public incentives to purchase this type of car where they exist of course. Because the data from Spain, where sales of electric vehicles fell by 12.6% in this period in which the Moves III Plan was not approved, support how public aid for the acquisition of electric vehicles pulls the market, as has happened in Germany (+ 149.0%) and Italy (+145.6%).

Registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) increased by 175.0%, totaling 208,389 units. One of the drivers of this growth was Italy, where 16,103 plug-in cars were registered in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 445.7%. The other three main EU markets have doubled or even tripled PHEV sales so far this year: Germany (+195.4%), France (+231.4%) and Spain (+116.1%). %).

Conventional Hybrids

Conventional Hybrids (or HEVs) continue to be the category with the highest volume of alternatively powered passenger cars in the EU, with 469,784 registered units of January to March 2021, 101.6% more than in the same period last year.

Hybrid registrations increased in almost the entire region, including Italy (+246.8%), France (+135.0%), Germany (+60.5%) and Spain (+39.4%) .

Yes to LPG; no to CNG

Sales of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cars almost doubled (+92.7%) to reach 46,037 units, driven by France (+1,748.6%); now the second largest market in the EU for LPG cars) and Italy (+23.9%), which accounted for more than half of total LPG sales and remains the first market.

On the other hand, demand for compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in the European Union decreased by 10.1% to 14,300 units during the first quarter, despite registrations increasing by 24.5% in Italy (the largest EU market for these vehicles). The Volkswagen Group is practically the only one that offers this type of fuel in tourism and that it has already said that it will definitively abandon it in 2026, although it could be sooner, given the low demand for these variants.

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