Something has gone missing in the UK’s drive towards zero-carbon motoring: advertising.

The DNA of the UK’s car fleet is changing. Whereas every car once had a tailpipe, that is no longer the case. Total UK car sales have declined recently, and a more detailed look at the figures reveals some interesting trends.

On the graph electric vehicles (which includes all hybrids) are represented by the yellow curve, while petrol and diesel sales are represented by the red and blue curves respectively. You can clearly see just how dramatic the recent plunge in new diesel sales has been. And it’s equally clear that electrified vehicle (EV) sales are beginning to increase quite dramatically, albeit from a low base.

This rise in EV sales is impressive on a number of levels. Clearly there is a pre-existing level of demand for electrified vehicles; it turns out that some people want environmentally friendly cars that have dirt-cheap running costs and are often quite cool to boot.

However, demand can be induced – in particular, by companies’ marketing efforts. Spend more on advertising a particular product or set of products, and more will be demanded; this is after all what advertising is for.

This leads to interesting questions: are car manufacturers themselves trying to increase demand – and if they’re not, why not?

Read more: ECIU