The head of sales at one of Europe’s biggest car manufacturers has said that consumers are no longer buying new diesel cars, with a major switch to plug-in hybrid cars.

Steve Beattie, head of sales for Volvo Car UK, has said that 2020 has seen a major shift in philosophy for the British car buying market, with a ‘massive switch’ to the greener alternatives.

Volvo is currently the only car brand to offer a plug-in hybrid option across its entire range and has also promised a new EV every year from 2020.

From January to September this year the company’s split for sales have been 36 per cent diesel, 36 per cent petrol and 28 per cent plug-in hybrid. However the real picture is told in Volvo’s pre-order book going forward, with diesel seeing a significant 25 per cent drop in market share, down to just nine percent. Hybrid is going in the opposite direction, with 51 per cent of the so-called ‘pipeline’ registrations.

One of the key reasons for the diesel disappearing from forecourts is due to many companies, including Volvo, dropping diesel as an option on many models.

"We’re seeing a massive switch from diesel to PHEV, and over the next few years diesel will be slowly phased out across the range. I think it’ll become less and less popular,” said Beattie.

"And it’s not necessarily because we want to offer it [diesel] less, but because the consumer doesn’t want to buy it."

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