Sales of Volkswagen electric cars have plunged by almost a quarter in Europe as demand for battery-powered vehicles stalls and buyers return to petrol. The Telegraph has more.
Electric vehicle (EV) sales fell by 24% in the first three months of the year as high inflation and rising energy prices dampened demand.
Globally, all-electric sales at the owner of Audi, Skoda and Porsche dropped by 3% to 136,400, while sales of combustion engine cars climbed 4% to nearly two million.
The drop-off in EV demand comes as politicians in the region rollback subsidies and reconsider ambitious targets to dump petrol and diesel cars.
In September, Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, pushed back a deadline to block new petrol and diesel sales in the U.K. from 2030 to 2035. Incentives for drivers buying new EVs were scrapped in 2022.
Data suggest that demand for petrol cars is rising faster than for electric models in Britain.
EV registrations were only 3.8% higher last month than they were a year earlier, according to figures released last week by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, while petrol-engine sales rose 9.2%.
Volkswagen sells some of the U.K.’s most popular electric vehicle models, including the Audi e-Tron range and Volkswagen ID.
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