New car average CO2 emissions decreased by 1.2% in 2016 but marking the smallest annual percentage improvement for the last 10 years.

JATO recorded a slower growth in diesel registrations in 2016.

Latest analysis carried out by JATO Dynamics for 23 European markets showed that average CO2 emissions finished the year at 117.8g/km – 1.4 g/km lower than the total seen in 2015. JATO attributed the slowdown in reduction to the slower growth of diesel registrations in 2016.

Peugeot led the brand ranking for its second year, with its average emissions falling by 1.7g/km in 2016 – primarily due to a lower CO2 emission average for its petrol engines. Citroën was ranked second with 103.3g/km, down 2.3g/km compared to 2015. Overtaking Renault in third place was Toyota, helped by the strong performance of its hybrid range, which accounted for 39% of its European registrations in 2016. However, Toyota’s average emissions for its hybrid range grew by 4.3g/km due to the launch of its RAV4 Hybrid.

On a country level, Norway – which has the highest per capita number of all-electric cars in the world – had the lowest CO2 emissions of all countries analysed. Notably, the Netherlands and Denmark were the only two markets with increased average CO2 emissions in 2016, driven by government policy – the reduction of tax incentives in the Netherlands resulted in a 53% fall in demand for PHEVs, and increased tax rates for EVs in Denmark resulted in a 71% fall in EV registrations.

“It’s clear that the industry is making progress: CO2 emissions declined. The rate of decline has, however, slowed. This is due to the increased market share of gasoline vehicles and the deceleration of the growth of diesel vehicles. With WLTP imminent this is a significant year and it remains to be seen the impact it will have on emissions monitoring,” commented Felipe Munoz, Global Automotive Analyst at JATO Dynamics.

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