Diesel car sales have plummeted in Europe in the first quarter of the year, representing only 23.2 percent of sales as opposed to 30 percent during the same period last year, according to data released Friday by car manufacturers.

"Hybrid electric vehicles made up 18.4 percent of total passenger car sales in the EU, almost doubling their market share in a year," the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association said. "Demand for electrically-chargeable cars also increased during these three months: battery electric vehicles made up 5.7percent of all new cars, while plug-in hybrids accounted for 8.2 percent of EU registrations."

The group said that from January to March of this year, diesel volumes fell 20.1 percent compared to a year ago to reach 593,559 cars sold across the European Union. The volumes fell nearly 30 percent in Germany and Spain.

Similarly, demand for petrol cars continued its downward trend, with sales decreasing by 16.9 percent from 1.3 million units sold in in the first quarter of 2020 to 1.1 million so far this year, ACEA said.

It said the shy recovery of the auto market, which was hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, had especially benefitted hybrid electric vehicles which saw a siginificant rise in sales, notably in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Poland.

"Registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) jumped by 175.0%, totalling 208,389 units," ACEA said. "One of the drivers of this growth was Italy, where 16,103 plug-in cars were registered in the first quarter -- a year-on-year increase of 445.7 percent."

Sweden, Germany and France also registered an increase in the sale of such vehicles.

Registrations for battery electric vehicles across the bloc also jumped by 59.1 percent to reach 146,185 cars, with demand still benefiting from government stimuli for zero-emission vehicles, ACEA said .

By contrast, demand for battery electric cars fell in Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands.

VW demands billion-euro 'dieselgate' payout from ex-CEO: report
Frankfurt (AFP) April 23, 2021 - Auto giant Volkswagen is seeking more than a billion euros ($1.2 billion) in damages from ex-CEO Martin Winterkorn over the "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal, German media reported on Friday.

The sum would be the highest ever claim for damages against a company executive in Germany, according to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

Volkswagen has written to Winterkorn to demand the sum, the bulk of which is likely to be covered by his liability insurance, the report said, without citing its sources.

Volkswagen and a source close to Winterkorn both declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

The Volkswagen group was plunged into crisis in 2015 when it admitted to installing cheating software in 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide to dupe pollution tests.

The scandal, based on allegations from the US Environmental Protection Agency, has so far cost the German car giant more than 30 billion euros ($35 billion) in fines, legal costs and compensation.

VW said in March it would be demanding compensation from Winterkorn, as well as Rupert Stadler, the former head of its Audi division, for "breach of duty" in connection with the affair. The company did not reveal how much it was seeking then.

The amount demanded from Stadler "is expected to be much smaller" than that asked of Winterkorn, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported.

VW accuses Winterkorn of failing to take action from July 2015 to get "immediate and comprehensive" information about the use of the illegal software in vehicles sold in North America between 2009 and 2015.

It also says he "failed in this context to ensure that the questions asked by the US authorities were truthfully and fully answered".

Winterkorn, 73, and four other ex-Volkswagen colleagues are due to go on trial together in Germany on charges of organised commercial fraud and serious tax evasion.

The start of proceedings has been repeatedly pushed back due to the coronavirus pandemic and is now set to start on September 16.

The first senior executive to go on trial over "dieselgate" was Stadler, 58, whose fraud proceedings opened in Munich last year.

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