Survey: What is the cause of falling diesel sales in the UK?

17 August 2018 Recent figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed demand for new diesel cars in the UK fell by 18.3% in May, while the market is 18.4% down year-to-date. This represents a deceleration of the decline of the fuel type but with a 27.7% market share so far in 2019, the technology is certainly out of favour. Newer diesel vehicles are cleaner than their older counterparts. However, in the UK used car market, sales only fell by 3.6% in Q1, possibly as lower residual values make used diesels more attractive. Autovista Group wants to know which key factor is putting drivers off buying a new diesel car. Have increases in Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) rates over the last two years caused consumers to look to the petrol market, or buy used vehicles? Or has the constant demonisation of the fuel in the press taken its toll? Is government pressure on the fuel, including the banning of diesel and petrol sales in 2040, putting people off, or does the higher price of the fuel itself mean more people are switching to alternatives? (function(t,e,s,n){var o,a,c;t.SMCX=t.SMCX||[],e.getElementById(n)||(o=e.getElementsByTagName(s),a=o[o.length-1],c=e.createElement(s),c.type=”text/javascript”,c.async=!0,c.id=n,c.src=[“https:”===location.protocol?”https://”:”http://”,”widget.surveymonkey.com/collect/website/js/tRaiETqnLgj758hTBazgd_2BrwaGaWbg59AiLjNGdPaaJdM3OnzEsukT8iHuRojbMA.js”].join(“”),a.parentNode.insertBefore(c,a))})(window,document,”script”,”smcx-sdk”);