Statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) reveal that the sales of new cars dropped by 11.3% in the United Kingdom.
The December 2008 figures were not as bad as expected by business experts. The December registration of new cars reflected a 21.2% decline.
The demand for diesel fueled car remains to be on the optimistic side as it reached a record high of 43.6% at the end of 2008. With respect to this, the new CO2 emissions average also dropped a very significant 4.2% or on an average rating of 158 g/km. The emissions make a notable improvement of 16% from the readings taken in 1997.
The auto industry figures also show the demand for more environment friendly small cars compared to larger vehicles. The mini segment of the market is the only sector that posted growth in 2008. The supermini cars also made a jump from 32.1% to 33.4% in the market share year over year.
The development and efforts to produce greener engines contributed much to the decline of CO2 emissions. The diesel vehicles today produces 95% less tailpipe soot compared to the cars 15 years ago.
Green cars also top other cars as the most sellable models. Five of the top 10 best sellers have a CO2 emission of less than 120g/km. Ford Fiesta made the biggest sales last December with 7204 units. The Ford Focus, on the other hand, was the most popular car with 101593 units sold for 2008 in UK.
The Vauxhall Corsa was on second spot in the popularity race selling in the UK 6322 units and delivered 99574 for the whole of 2008.