NEWS

The political and media war on diesel has seen sales of used petrol cars in the B2C markets within Europe’s five largest car markets overtake diesel used car sales in August 2018, according to Indicata’s market data.

Ignoring the very small volumes of alternative fuels, across Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain B2C, used petrol cars took 51.7% of the market in August and continue to be the most popular fuel type bought by used car buyers.

German B2C market driving diesel decline
But the devil is in the detail and the fall in diesel market share below 50% is mainly being driven by the German B2C used car market with diesel market share falling by two per cent in August to 39.5%. By the end of October 2018 diesels accounted for just 37.9% of the German B2C used car market, compared to 45.3% in October 2017 and 41.6% average for the last 12 months.

Germany and the UK both have petrol as the most popular fuel in the B2C used car market. Whilst the UK has seen diesel falling to 46% in October 2018, compared to 49.7% a year earlier and 47.9% on a rolling 12-month average, the 3.7% fall is exactly half the 7.4% drop seen in Germany over the same period.

In contrast sales of B2C used diesel cars in Spain remain strong and accounted for 71.6% of B2C used car sales in October 2018, just one percent lower than October 2018 and 0.4% higher than the 12-month rolling average.

Diesel MDS rising, petrol falling
Whilst diesel B2C used car market share remains high, other Indicata data shows how diesel market days’ supply is increasing whilst petrol MDS has fallen sharply. This means the Spanish market is becoming more of a push market as used car buyers are facing limited used petrol car stock, leaving them with no choice but to buy a used diesel from dealers and traders.