Diesels to remain popular, says Jaguar Land Rover UK

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Diesel power plants will continue to be the majority means of propulsion for Jaguar Land Rover products in the future, said the company’s UK managing director Jeremy Hicks in conversation with Autocar.

Diesel models account for 70% of the automaker’s UK sales, equating to approximately 70,000 vehicles a year. Its diesel sales success can be attributed to a successful push for fleet buyers, whose purchasing decisions are weighed heavily by CO2 emissions figures. Fleet sales has grown from 37% in 2013 to 44% in 2015, and is expecting it to grow further towards the industry average of 46%.

“I am not convinced that we’ll see a wholesale change away from diesel. And we are certainly not seeing any marked shift away from diesel today,” said Hicks.

The company has already made its commitment towards oil-burners – its first engine from the new Ingenium range of powertrains is a 2.0 litre turbodiesel, which has been on sale on the Jaguar XE and XF and the Land Rover Discovery Sport and facelifted Range Rover Evoque since last year. Petrol variants, including a rumoured straight-six, are only set to go into production later this year.

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In contrast, Volvo could reportedly drop diesel power plants from its future lineup due to ever-tightening emissions requirements. The Swedish carmaker’s upcoming 40 Series range of models are designed from the outset to embrace conventional, full-electric and plug-in hybrid powertrains, further growing its independence from diesel.

For its larger 90 Series models such as the XC90, S90 and V90, the marque’s Scalable Product Architecture (SPA) gives rise to the T8 plug-in powertrain, which in the seven-seater XC90 can achieve a consumption figure of 2.1 litres per 100km under the European NEDC test cycle.

Europe, a traditional diesel stronghold, is predicted to see a continued drop in diesel market share to 37% by 2027, which adds to the significance of alternative powertrain options such as plug-in hybrids and EVs.

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Mick Chan

Open roads and closed circuits hold great allure for Mick Chan. Driving heaven to him is exercising a playful chassis on twisty paths; prizes ergonomics and involvement over gadgetry. Spent three years at a motoring newspaper and short stint with a magazine prior to joining this website.

 

Comments

  • Kunta Kinte on Jun 03, 2016 at 3:49 pm

    Everyone now making a paradigm shift to plug ins and hybrids. But poor Proton, still lost. they got no direction in life.

    Malaysians have been waiting for their hybrid 8 years now. Malaysians have been waiting for their Iriz EV now 2 years.
    Malaysians have been waiting for their Perdana now for months.

    Time to stop minum teh and makan kuih lapis in the kantin 8x a day and start planning Proton!

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 7
  • crash on Jun 03, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    There is nothing wrong with diesels. The fuel itself has more energy content than petrol , therefore gives end-users better gas mileage.
    Moving away from clean diesels is a bad move, since the only party which benefits is the petroleum producing companies.
    You will end up buying more fuel from these companies as now the oil price is so low, these fuel companies will find ways to boost the oil consumption to gain more profit.
    Hybrid petrol is good, but hybrid diesel save even more fuel.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 1
 

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