Diesels set market share record in UK

The United States has, up until this point, proven to be a tough market for diesel vehicles. Compared to the European market, which is widely diesel-centric, the only compression ignition vehicles that have historically sold well here are the largest of pickups. This may soon change with automakers beginning to roll out more quality choices which use diesel fuel... or may not due to the fact that diesel prices are rising even faster than gasoline prices. Regardless, it doesn't seem as if the U.S. will be passing Europe when it comes to diesel-powered vehicles, as April has set a new record for diesel penetration in the UK with 45.4 percent of all new registrations being oil-runners. The best seller of all remains the Ford Focus in both gas and diesel versions. For what it's worth, the year-to-date percentage of diesel vehicles sold in the UK stands at 42.7 percent. In related news, the mini car market also enjoyed a healthy bump in sales, up 43.7 percent. Forecasts indicate that diesel vehicles and small, fuel-efficient models will continue to gain market share as the price of fuel increases. As you can see here, SMMT has been covering this increase in sales for quite some time. The entire report of April sales in the UK is available here.

[Source: SMMT]