Electric vehicle sales overtake diesel models for first time in Europe

The sale of electric vehicles (EV) in the European market has surpassed that of diesel cars for the first time ever, according to Financial Times preliminary estimates.

Across 18 European markets – including the UK—more than a fifth of vehicles sold were electric, while diesel cars slumped to less than 19 per cent.

In December, around 176,000 battery EVs were sold in Western Europe—an all-time record high and a 6 per cent increase on December 2020 levels – while European car makers sold 160,000 diesel cars, the Financial Times reported.

According to Daniel Clarke, automotive analyst at GlobalData, Europe should be