Europe’s Diesel Car Problem – 20% of the Market!

Europe’s diesel vehicle sales continue the counter-intuitive trend of  strength this year as the move to plug-in electrification has slowed in part because of a diminished focus on tougher CO2 targets. Another factor: diesel popularity is also due to price increases starting to negatively affect BEV buyers in particular, the respected LMC Automotive consultancy said today.

The latest diesel sales information comes at a time when 27 automakers are lobbying the EU to ban the sale of all, yes all, internal combustion vehicles by 2035 and replace them with zero emissions vehicles  – aka electric –  if  the Global Warming goals of net zero emissions are to be met by 2050 to avoid the worst impacts of planet- and people-killing climate change.

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“With just two minor markets missing from April’s data at the time of writing, it looks like diesel share of new car sales (including hybrids) came in at 19.5% in April while the YoY decline at just 4.2% was the smallest for a year, although the value of year-on-year comparisons is questionable in these times of disrupted vehicle manufacturing,” said LMC.

“Several OEMs have made the point recently that combustion engines (including diesel) will continue to have a part to play in the region’s future powertrain mix with the likely looming shortage of battery materials for BEVs bringing this into sharp focus,” said LMC.

April diesel sales volume was 144,000, a 78,000 decrease from the same month in 2021. This is likely the result of the ongoing crisis on the production side of the industry. To-date, 630,000 diesel cars have been sold in western Europe which is 300,000 fewer than were sold in the first four months of 2021. “Parts shortages continue to impact on all segments of the industry,” said LMC.