Trends in fuel type of new cars between 2015 and 2016, by country
Overall in 2016 49.5% of all new passenger cars registered in Western Europe ran on diesel and 45.8% on petrol, while hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) accounted for 2.1% of new cars, electrically chargeable vehicles (ECV) for 1.5% and other alternative fuels (such as LPG, natural gas and E85) for 1.2%.
When looking at the changes in market shares of the various fuel types between 2015 and 2016, some trends can be identified. Petrol grew from 43.7% of the market in 2015 to 45.8% last year. Hybrid electric vehicles remained the most important segment of alternative fuel vehicles (growing from 1.7% to 2.1%), while electrically chargeable vehicles took over second place in the segment from cars running on LPG, natural gas or E85.
In the case of diesel, results were diverse across Western Europe*: its market share increased slightly in Denmark, Italy and Switzerland, while declines were observed in Norway and the Netherlands. Overall, diesel’s share was about two percentage points lower in 2016 than the year before.
* Western Europe = EU15 + EFTA
