The average emissions of a car in the UK in 2013 was 128 grams of CO2 per kilometre, down 3.4% from the average amount recorded in 2012, and 28% from the average amount in 2001 according to a survey conducted by Mediaworks in collaboration with and on behalf of Motorparks.co.uk.
This was also below the 130 grams per km target set by EU for 2015. The research also found that a single average car from 1970 would pollute emissions equivalent to 100 cars today.
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While the survey found falling vehicle emissions, the average mileage also fell. In 2002 the average driver covered 9,200 miles in the UK. In 2013, this number had fallen to 7,900 miles.
Overall, the research found the average car was a silver, 7.7 year old car from the supermini segment, with just under half of cars (48%) having some form of satellite navigation.
While the research confirmed that that Ford Fiesta was the most popular car overall, with 121,929 cars sold in 2013, The Vauxhall Corsa was more popular for businesses. 10,390 vehicles were sold for these purposes, above the Fiesta in second place, at 4,952.
The Ford Focus was the most popular fleet car, with 55,017 cars in that sector, followed by the Vauxhall Astra and Volkswagen Golf, with 49,386 and 43,441 registrations respectively.
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By GlobalDataFor private sales, however, the Ford Fiesta was the most popular car, with 74,698 sales. This was over double the second most popular private car choice, the Vauxhall Corsa, which was sold over 34,553 cars.
