For the first time in the local car market, the combined sales of electric and hybrid cars have exceeded the sales of diesel cars, the environment minister said. “The numbers show us that we are fast approaching the end of the diesel era,” says Tanchos Barna. Diesel, which 7 years ago occupied more than half of the new car market, reached 14%.

Sales of electric and hybrid cars surpassed those of diesel cars for the first time this year, boosted also by incentives provided through the Rabla Plus program.

• Diesel cars and the numbers of a fall that seemed impossible just a few years ago

An analysis of car registrations by engine type for the first seven months of this year shows that electrified cars (full electric, plug-in hybrid and full hybrid) have grown by 106.4%, reaching a market share of 20.7%.

In parallel, the registration of cars with diesel engines decreased by 29.3% compared to the first seven months of 2021 and is 14.1% of the total.

Gasoline engines grew by 10.1% compared to the same period in 2021, reaching a share of 65.3%.

At the same time, electric vehicles (Full Electric) came to represent 7.9% of the Romanian market in the first 7 months of 2022, while in the same period of 2021 they represented only 1.9% of the market.

“The numbers show us that we are fast approaching the end of the diesel era. This is the first year for Romania that green cars are bought more than diesel cars. This is a trend both at the European and national level, where in both cases we have seen diesel sales decline by almost 30% in the first half of this year. If we look at fully electric cars, we will see an even more impressive evolution, a 300% increase in market share in the first seven months compared to the same period last year,” says the Minister of Environment.

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