Used diesel cars are defying the deep plunge in sales of new diesel cars, making up five of the top 10 fastest selling used car models.

According to Auto Trader’s Fastest Selling Index as of 15 September, diesel cars took four of the top six spots, with electric vehicles in the other two, and the highest ranked of three petrol cars in the top 10 was seventh.

The Seat Alhambra (2016 diesel, automatic) is currently the fastest selling used car in the UK, on average taking 23 days to sell.

The Index highlights a growing appetite among consumers for affordable electric vehicles (EV) with the Renault Zoe taking both second (2015 electric, automatic - 25 days) and fourth place (2016 electric, automatic - 26 days).

Commenting on the results, Auto Trader’s director of commercial products, Karolina Edwards-Smajda, said: “Our data continues to highlight two important trends, not least the ongoing resilience of modern Euro 6 diesel cars which despite the negative rhetoric, remain a popular choice among used car buyers.

“What’s more, in case there were any doubts, we can see there is clearly a growing market for secondhand low emission vehicles. Not only are EVs consistently featuring on our Fastest Selling Index, but since October last year we’ve seen a 59% increase in searches for electric vehicles on our marketplace. As awareness, performance and the necessary infrastructure improves, we can only expect to see this appetite increase.”