(ANSA) - ROME - The carbon dioxide emissions produced by the new petrol cars in Europe has outnumbered those produced by the new diesel cars due to the growth in sales of petrol models, the European Association of Car Manufacturers (ACEA) reported, taking into account their data and those coming from the European Environment Agency (EEA). Overall, ACEA specifies, the average emissions produced by new cars in 2017 grew by 0.4% over the previous year, reaching 118.5 grams per kilometer. It is the first annual growth since 2010, when the surveys began. ACEA underlined that in 2017 the number of petrol cars, for the first time since 2009, exceeded the number of diesel cars. ''Consumers - ACEA secretary general, Erik Jonnaert said - are sending a clear signal: there are too many barriers, such as lack of infrastructure, reliability and autonomy, that prevent electric vehicles from replacing diesel.

CO2 reductions will depend on sales of electric vehicles or other alternative fuels''. (ANSA).