The Demise of Diesel?

A knock-on effect of the government’s recent scrappage scheme has been the rise in sales of small petrol-engined cars and a decline in market share for diesels. This has coincided with a general slow down of diesel sales and some people are now questioning whether the demand for the oil burners has peaked.

The diesel engine has come a long way over the past ten years or so with development of common-rail injection systems and turbocharging making it more efficient and acceptable. According to a report in the Daily Telegraph, diesel sales doubled during this period from 25 to 50 per cent of the European market, while in Britain they rose from 15 to 43 per cent. Meanwhile, on the race track, both Audi and Peugeot have won the prestigious Le Mans 24 Hour race with diesel engined racers.

But from January to October last year, sales of diesels in Britain fell 16 per cent and the same trend is happening in Europe as small petrol-engined cars are becoming more and more popular.

This trend has been helped by the government’s scrappage scheme, which has resulted in around 330,000 people buying small petrol cars since their diesel equivalents are more expensive. As people downsize, they are realising that the benefits of having a diesel are not so apparent on a small car, where improvements in efficiency of petrol engines has made them more economical and desirable.

Diesel fuel is also more expensive to buy in Britain than in Europe and EU emissions regulations mean diesels need more equipment to reduce pollutants. According to the Telegraph, failures in turbos, particulate filters and glow plugs are also becoming more common.

It’s always dangerous to pick up trends in motoring and extrapolate them to predict the future, but one thing does seem apparent – sales of diesels may well have reached their peak and the immediate future of the car could well lie in small, efficient, cheap to run petrol-engined vehicles.

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