New car diesel demand in Europe continued to fall in February despite an overall rise in new car registrations.

SUVs continued to drive European new car market growth in February.

Figures from Jato Dynamics show European car registrations increased by 4.2% to 1.16 million; marking the best February performance and the highest YTD volume since 2008.

However, diesel continued to decline with its market share falling to 39.5% while volume was down by 12.8 percentage points in February. This was largely caused by falling demand in Germany and the UK, where diesel vehicle registrations decreased by 19.2% and 23.5% respectively. In contrast, petrol registrations increased by 16% in February while alternatively fuelled vehicles were up by 18.5%.

SUVs continued to drive growth for the industry, with volume increasing by 24.7%, accounting for 33% of the total market. Small and mid-size SUVs led the growth for the segment in February, whilst compact SUVs also had a strong month. This offset a fall in demand for full-size and luxury SUVs, which posted a 12.6% decline in volume.