And the list goes on. After Porsche, Peugeot becomes the latest automaker to announce that it will be halting development of diesel engines until the market stabilises. In fact, there is even the possibility of removing them altogether if demand continues to fall.
Groupe PSA’s product director Laurent Blanchet told Autocar at the Paris Motor Show that the future of diesel is “uncertain” and that “we will have to see if the market is going to delete or give up on diesel.”
Peugeot recently introduced a new 1.5 litre diesel engine that would meet the most stringent emissions regulations for the next few years, but the engine may not be adapted beyond that. “We have decided not to develop more evolutions of diesel technology, because we want to see what’s going to happen,” Blanchet confirmed.
Speaking separately, Peugeot CEO Jean-Phillipe Imparato admitted that the company had “made a mistake with pushing diesels,” as its aggressive development and substantial investment may not pay off in terms of the fuel’s future market share. Diesel market share in European car sales has fallen from around 50% in early 2017 to roughly 36% today. This is partly caused by the VW dieselgate scandal which is causing buyers to stay away from oil burners.
“We have decided that, if in 2022 or 2023 the market is, say, five percent is made of up diesel, we will give up on it. If the market is 30%, the question will be very different. I think nobody can say yet where the market will be. But what is clear is that the diesel trend is going down,” Blanchet added.
“As you know, we have launched a new 1.5 litre diesel engine, which will keep things going for now. The question is not our products, because we know we have very good diesel engines and we know that diesel is very competitive in terms of CO2 emissions,” he noted, while stating that Peugeot’s focus is now on electrification.
Starting from 2019, each new model offered under Groupe PSA will have a plug-in hybrid or fully-electric variant. That means every model sold by Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Vauxhall and Opel will get an electrified model as part of the group’s push for clean mobility. The electrified models are said to emit less than 49 g/km of CO2.
Peugeot has just presented the plug-in hybrid versions of the 3008, 508 and 508 SW, with more to come. Groupe PSA is predicting a tenfold growth in PHEV sales to around 10 million units by 2025, driven by markets such as China.
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Whole world is stopping diesel because it is dirty. But mind you, that is the clean Euro 5 Diesel. Even that, is considered filthy
But Malaysia the best. Government is selling the toxic and poisonous Euro 2M Diesel at our petrol stations. This was banned in the whole Europe in 1994, 24 years ago because it was found to be carcinogenic and cancer causing
Pity Malaysia. these are the old legacies brought forward by the previous inefficient Government
In Malaysia, cars like BMW 520d and Mercedes E300 Bluetec Hybrid has dropped so much because now Diesel has become like plague and have a bad name.
Such a good buy still cause the E300 Bluetec hybrid is a very very advanced car.
Pity prices have dropped like crazy. 2015 car now about RM130k.