The numbers are stubborn and sometimes go against the times. While the merits of electric power are touted, as initiatives to pollute less multiply and the end of diesel seems announced, CO2 emissions of new cars increased in 2018 by 1%, to 112 grams per kilometer traveled. according to the Committee of French Automobile Manufacturers (CCFA).
The share of diesel engines in new car sales has decreased by 15% in 2018 compared to 2017, to reach 39% – it was 72% in 2012. The initiatives of municipalities like Paris to ban this type of engine or the “Dielselgate” of Volkswagen have finished ‘to get the interest of diesel buyers, even if it is less CO2 emitting gasoline – which, for its part, emits much less nitrogen oxides (NOx).
For its part, the electric market is struggling to convince. In France, in 2018, 31,000 100% electric cars were sold, compared to 25,000 the previous year, or 1.43% of market share. On their side, 14,500 plug-in hybrids have found takers.
Success of SUVs
To this lack of interest for alternatives, we must add the success of SUVs. Obviously, the latter being heavier and equipped with more powerful engines, they emit more CO2. If, in 2007, urban SUVs accounted for 6% of sales in France, in 2018 they account for nearly 32% of the market. While the government is looking to reduce emissions and has implemented a system of malus-bonus aimed at directing motorists to less polluting vehicles, this stagnation shows the limits of the system. Especially since the trigger threshold of the malus has been lowered from «161 grams of CO2 per kilometer traveled, to 117 grams», as recalls ” Le Figaro “.
It should be noted, however, that the sales of the most greedy vehicles still fell: 26.8% of the cars sold were subject to a penalty in 2009 – the measure was triggered in 2008 – against 17.2 today.