By Nick Carey
LONDON (Reuters) - Electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for 43% of sales of new cars in the European Union in the third quarter, data from the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) showed on Thursday.
Fully electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and hybrids made up less than 40% of all sales in the same period last year, the association said.
More than one in 10 cars sold, or 11.9%, was a fully electric, zero-emission model as sales of such models rose 22% versus the third quarter of 2021.
The EU has backed an effective ban on new fossil-fuel vehicles from 2035, so eventually all cars will have to be zero-emission models.
National and local governments have been pulling back on subsidies for plug-in hybrids in favour of fully-electric cars. Plug-in hybrid sales fell 6% during the third quarter.
Petrol car sales were down 3.3% but petrol cars remained the most popular in the EU with 37.8% of total sales.
Diesel cars accounted for 16.5% of sales after a 4.7% drop year on year.
As recently as 2015, diesel vehicles accounted for nearly 52% of EU car sales. But sales have fallen continuously in the wake of Volkswagen (ETR:VOWG_p)'s "Dieselgate" emissions-cheating scandal.