High demand for eco-friendly cars

23/05/2011

Shaun Teale

The demand for new eco-friendly cars rose 28% during the December 2010 - April 2011 period, according to new research by Motoring.co.uk.

The improvement in demand comes at a time when diesel prices rose to a record high of over 140p a litre.

There was a 51.5% rise in sales of the Toyota Prius 2011 during the first three months of this year.

Nissan reported 550 standing orders for its recently launched Leaf electric car in the UK.

Chris Green, co-founder and sales director of Motoring.co.uk, said: "Our research on the growing demand for greener new cars backs up the recent SMMT's figures on 11-plate new car registrations, which show that less polluting cars dominate new car sales in 2011, so far.

"In the future, we will see more and more people opting for cars that are cheap to maintain rather than splashing out on models to impress the neighbours. We estimate that demand for greener cars will increase dramatically over the next 18 months."