Motor Vehicles: Fuel Oil

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Transport what percentage change there has been in the average level of fuel efficiency of cars sold in the UK in each year since 1997. (301296)

The Department for Transport does not have data on the average fuel efficiency of all cars sold in the UK. However, a fully comprehensive dataset of fuel efficiency data for new cars is available for the UK from 2001 in accordance with EU Decision 1753/2000/EC. Table 1 shows average fuel efficiency of new cars sold in the UK between 2001 and 2008 measured in grams of carbon dioxide per km (gCO₂/km). These figures have been used to calculate the percentage change in fuel efficiency for each year.

*Table 1: Average fuel efficiency for new cars sold in the UK 2001-08*
	Fuel efficiency (gCO₂/km)	Annual percentage change
2001	177.6	-1.9
2002	174.8	-1.6
2003	172.7	-1.2
2004	171.3	-0.8
2005	169.7	-0.9
2006	167.7	-1.2
2007	164.7	-1.8
2008	158.2	-4.0
Source: DVLA

Volume 501: debated on Thursday 26 November 2009