Figures for Belgium, Greece, Luxembourg and Portugal weren’t available at the time of writing but using best estimates for those markets indicates that diesel share of new car sales in the region in July was modestly higher than the June result. That is confirmed at 15.3%, while July brought a preliminary figure of 16.4% and a YTD figure of 16.7%, almost three percentage points lower than the figure to July of 2022. Volume-wise, the diesel market in July was 10k units smaller than a year ago but it was 4k units larger in the January to July period. The YTD position would have been different were it not for continuing robust diesel car sales in Germany and Italy. They are the only countries to add significant diesel sales volume so far this year compared with 2022, while France partly offset their results with a decline in diesel car sales of a similar scale to Germany’s increase.
To date in 2023, almost all brands have seen their diesel share of total car sales fall YoY, with French brands seeing some of the largest declines (due to high exposure to the fast-declining French diesel market) while premium German brands have seen little or no share erosion. Of the top 15 brands (by diesel sales) seen in the chart, Skoda stands out as having the most notable growth in diesel share.
*Estimated for July 2023
